Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Future
by Juxapose4ever
Summary: A story about family. Trei travels 5 years into the future to experience a Harvest Moon life he has yet to see.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**I wish**

_Winter 30, 1999_

Once upon a time, there is a young man who just finished graduating college. His name is Trei, age 21, and he enjoys living his life to the best of his abilities. On the evening of new years eve, he is having a drink with his college friends. His two best friends Troy and Toby both cheer loudly as they celebrate their friend's graduation.

**"Hey, congrats on your graduation man!"** yelled Troy with a half drunken expression. **"You are like the smartest person I know. You've impressed everyone completing 4 years of college in only three!"**

**"Come on guys. I've only studied hard, that's all. I didn't do anything impressive."** answered Trei.

**"Dude! I can't pass any of my classes to save my life!"** continued Toby.

**"Well, if you dedicate some of your time to studying instead of chasing girls, you may actually pass. Attending class every day would help too."** said Trei. All three friends laughs hard at his comments.

As the midnight bell rings, they all shout, **"Happy New Year!"** Then they drink some more beer.

After some more laughter and partying, Troy lets out a huge sigh. Trei has graduated, but his other two friends still need to complete at least another year. They all know that things will not be the same without their best friend. **"Seriously Trei, we are going to miss you. You always made going to class worth the effort."** said Troy.

**"Have you decided what are you going to do from here?"** asked Toby.

**"What do you think? I'm going to get the best paying job that I can, and live my life the best way that I can!"** answered Trei while holding up a mug of beer.

**"Booya! We'll drink to that! To Trei's success!"** yelled Troy and Toby. Then all three friends takes a long chug of beer to finish the party.

Later that night, Trei arrives at his home. It is very late, but his mother Sarah who he lives with is still awake. Trei has always planned to move out as soon as he graduate college, and get a good job. However, things are going to change as his mother has a very interesting surprise for him.

**"Mom! I'm home!"**

**"Trei! Good, you're home. A letter came for you while you were out with your friends."** Sarah hands him the letter addressed to Trei. The return address comes from a familiar place called Forget-Me-Not Valley. He heard his father mention that village long ago before he left to fulfill his dream of becoming a rancher.

Trei is surprised to see a letter from Forget-Me-Not Valley. He has not heard from his father in the whole 14 years he has been gone. He quickly opens the letter, and reads the contents to himself.

**Dear Trei,**

**I am sorry to tell you that your father had recently passed away. I know that you haven't heard or seen your father for many years, but I thought that I'd inform you about it. Also, I need to let you know that your father left a will. Your father owned a ranch in Forget-Me-Not Valley. He has never gotten married or had any children other than you. His final request is that you would take over the ranch in his place. I know this is a lot to ask of you, especially since your parents had a divorce when you were just a child. But I would also like to see you take over the ranch as well. Without an owner, the ranch will become abandoned, and your father's work will completely go to waste. Forget-Me-Not Valley is also concerned with the shortage of milk eggs and crops. Please at least take a look at the ranch before making a solid decision. If you are interested, you can find a number to reach me at the bottom of this letter. I hope to get an answer soon.**

**Sincerely,**

**Takakura**

**"What did it say?"** asked Sarah.

**"Dad died."** answered Trei. Even though he just learned that his father passed away, he shows no care, concern, or even sadness. However, Sarah sheds some tears for her deceased ex-husband.

Trei continues, **"Some guy named Takakura wants me to take over dad's ranch. Ha! What a joke! I just finished graduating college, all that studying would go to waste if I take over some ranch."**

Sarah notices Trei's angry expression and says, **"I see that you still get upset when you hear of your father."**

**"Dad hasn't called or even sent me a letter in 14 years. Even after he died, his friend needed to send me a letter in his place. That guy is scum I tell you! At least he had an excuse not to come to my graduation!"** pouted Trei.

**"I understand what you're saying."** said Sarah. **"But he is your father after all. He has been sending money to help support you, and pay for college. Can't you at least forgive him?"**

Trei lets out a huge stressful sigh and says, **"I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm going to bed!"**

As Trei walks away, Sarah prays for her ex-husband's safe trip to heaven. **"Pete, I did my best to raise your son. I only wish that you would have remained here with us until the end. Please watch over him."**

Trei goes into his room, and throws himself onto his bed. He wants to sleep, but he can not get his mind off of his father. He has only a few memories of him when he was a child. The last thing he remembers about him is that he said that we wanted to fulfill his dream of becoming a rancher. The fact that Trei has not heard from his always made him upset.

**"So, dad finally kicked the bucket eh? I really wish that I could at least see him one last time. He could at least tell me that he was proud of me or anything. But, I guess that will never happen."** Trei stares at the plain white ceiling thinking about his father's ranch. **"I wonder what would it be like to run a ranch? Why was my father so obsessed with such a mundane and old fashioned job? Why did he chose to be a rancher over a family man? Bah, who knows what my old man was thinking! But. . . I really do wish I knew what would happen if I took over the ranch."**

**"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough!"** said a high pitched voice.

**"Yeah, that would be nice, wouldn't it. . . Huh?"** Trei then notices that he is not alone in the room. He turns his head to the side and sees a very short man not even a foot tall standing on his bed next to him. It has long ears like an elf, wears black clothing, and a pointed black hat.

**"Hi there!"** said the short mysterious figure. Trei falls off of his bed from shock. He has no idea who this figure is, or where it came from.

Trei stands up and yells, **"Who are you? And why is there an elf midget on my bed?"**

**"Elf midget? How rude! I am Flik, a Harvest Sprite!"**

**"A Harvest Sprite? What the hell is a Harvest Sprite? And what do you want with me?"**

**"You wanted to know what would it be like to run your father's ranch right? I am here to tell you that your wish will be granted as early as tomorrow! I am the Harvest Sprite of time, and this is a fair warning to be prepared for the unexpected. You will take a trip into the future!"**

**"The future!"** yelled Trei. After thinking about his situation, he concludes, **"I get it, this is all just a wild dream. In a little while, I am going to wake up and forget this ever happened."**

**"This is no dream."** said the Harvest Sprite. **"When you wake up, you will be taken into the future to see your life as a rancher. Be prepared, you may be shocked at what you'll learn."**

Trei becomes annoyed and yells, **"Listen to me little elf! I don't believe in Harvest Sprites, or elves, or other mystical creatures! Why don't you just get out of my head, and go bother some little kid or something!"**

**"OK, but I've warned you. Don't be too surprised when you wake up!"** said the Harvest Sprite. It snaps its fingers, and vanishes as quickly as it appeared. The room becomes very quiet once again.

Trei laughs the whole event off, and lays back down on the bed. He continues to think for another minute. **"Future it said. I am a college graduate, I learned that time traveling is impossible. This is all just a dream."** He then yawns, and becomes oddly sleepy all of the sudden. His eye lids become heavy, and staying awake is now very difficult. **"I'll forget about everything when I wake up. I need to go celebrate with my friends tomorrow on New Years day. . ."**

And so, he closes his eyes, and falls into a deep sleep. He dreams about his well paying job that he has always wanted. What will his future bring in the morning?

_Spring 1, 2005 (Monday)_

Trei wakes up to the chilly air of Spring. He takes the first deep breath of the new year before opening his eyes. After rubbing his eyes, he notices something odd. He finds himself somewhere else other than his bedroom. The bed he was sleeping in is much bigger, the walls are made of thick logs, and he couldn't find any of his possessions. The air is much fresher and cleaner than it was only the night before.

As he ponders about his situation, a pair of arms wraps themselves around Trei's waist. Two soft lumps are felt pressed against his back. Feeling nervous, Trei slowly turns his head to see who was embracing him. He finds a blond woman looking up at him with emerald green eyes. Hair rollers, night gown, and everything else which is evident that she spent the night with him.

**"Good morning darling! Happy New Year."** said the green eyed woman.

The shock of seeing a strange woman in his bed causes him to scream to the top of his lungs. Jumping out of the bed, he pins himself to a corner on the other side of the room. The blond woman rubs her eyes, and notices Trei against a corner like a frightened animal.

**"Trei, what's wrong? Why are you so worked up all of the sudden?"** she asked.

**"Who . . . Who are you!?"** demanded Trei pointing a finger at her.

**"Who am I?"** asked the blond woman. **"That's a strange question to ask your wife."**

**"My. . . WIFE!!!"** yelled Trei with a confused and blank expression on his face.

Suddenly, a small toddler who is sleeping on a smaller bed begins to cry. The blond woman jumps out of bed, and carries the whaling child.

**"Now look at what you did! You made the baby cry!"** She rocked the toddler so that she could calm down. The comfort of her mother's embrace silences the child, and goes back to sleep. **"There, there. Calm down Myo. Daddy didn't mean to scare you. He's just acting a little weird today. He had too much to drink last night."**

**"Wait, when you said _'daddy'_, were you talking about me?"** asked Trei.

**"What are you talking about?"** asked his wife angrily. **"Of course you are her father!"**

Ignoring what she just said, Trei looks around the room in utter confusion. He notices a calendar nearby, and checks the date. He is shocked to see the year to be 2005, five years ahead of where he was yesterday. Then he looks out the window, instead of tall buildings, he sees trees and grass.

He ran out the nearest door to see where he is. The first thing he sees is a huge barn with animals grazing on the grass in the pasture. Chickens are pecking on the dirt looking for early worms. Out to the distance, he could see other small houses.

He stares around and yells out to the distance, **"What the!? What the hell happened!? WHERE AM I!!!???"** He learns that he is no longer in the city where he grew up in. He is now in the quiet village known as Forget-Me-Not Valley.

**To be continued.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**New Year, New Life**

_Spring 1, 2005_

_Continued from Chapter 1_

Trei takes a look around at the countryside surroundings where he finds himself that morning. The sight of not being where he was last night causes him to panic. As he trembles, his wife goes outside the house to check on him. She is still in her night gown, hair curlers, and her daughter in her arms. She watches him in disbelief as he falls to his knees like if he has gone insane.

**"Trei! What is the matter with you? What are you so worked up over?"** she asked without a clue as to what is happening to him.

After hearing her voice, Trei runs up to his wife and tries his best to explain his situation. **"Listen to me. . . Uh. . . Err. . . Whatever your name is. I don't know who you think I am, but I am not that guy! Something strange happened here last night!"**

"Oh really?" she said who is now very annoyed with him. **"So, you're telling me that you're not Trei?"**

**"Um, yes. I am Trei, but not the same one! I was at home celebrating New Years with my friends. Then this little elf midget appeared out of thin air, and told me that I was going to the future!"**

She does not believe a single word Trei tells her. She takes it as some sort of cheap joke. After brooding for a moment, she says, **"Trei, you better cut out this childish behavior, or else I'm going to get mad!"**

**"But I'm telling you the truth! Why wont you believe me?"** begged Trei.

His wife lets out a huge sigh and yells, **"I don't have time for this! I have to get ready for the party. When you decide to grow up, come inside!"** She starts to walk back into the house with the child still in her arms.

**"But I-"** said Trei as he tries to follow her back into the house. But as he tries to follow her, she slams the door behind her. The door hits his face so hard that he falls on the dirt outside the house. He stands back up rubbing his bleeding nose which was flattened by the door. He kicks the dirt and yells, **"ACK!!! This is unbelievable! Why is this happening to me!?"**

**"So, how are you enjoying your wish?"** said a very familiar voice. Trei slowly turns around to see if the voice belongs to the little Harvest Sprite he met only last night. Flik smiles as Trei stares at him with a murderous look in his eye. **"Hello Trei. It's been five years since we last met. So, how are things – GACK!!!"**

Before he allows Flik to finish his sentence, Trei grabs on to it's small body, starts to shake it senseless, and squeezes it as hard as he can. As he strangles the Harvest Sprite, he yells, **"You stupid little elf midget! What did you do to me!?"**

**"I didn't do anything!"** struggled the Harvest Sprite. **"All I did was give you a fair warning that your wish is being granted! But you didn't believe me!"**

**"I didn't wish to skip five years of my life! Now you listen to me, and listen good! Send me back to my own time, and you better do it now!"**

**"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."** answered Flik.

**"Why not!?"** asked Trei. **"You brought me here!"**

**"I can't do it because I did not bring you here. You brought yourself here!"**

Trei stops shaking Flik around shocked from it's answer. He stares at the dizzy sprite and asks, **"What did you say? Explain yourself!"**

After forcing itself out of Trei's grasp, it stands before him, and clears it's throat. It is about to give Trei the explanation he will have a hard time believing. **"It's true that your wish was granted, But I do not have the power to take anyone across time. I can only move myself from the past to the future, and vice-versa. Trei, you may not be able to believe what I am telling you, but please listen carefully. You see, your family bloodline from your father's side has always been close to nature. Because of that, you have been granted certain abilities usually given to Harvest Sprites. One of those abilities is that of my own. The ability to jump across time. But because you're still human, your special abilities are not as stable as ours. Trei, you wanted to know what would life be like if you took over your father's ranch. Because of that strong desire to know, you skipped forward in time to find out. It was a pain trying to find out how many years exactly did you skip, but at least I found you. Eventually, you'll go back to the present on your own, but not until you complete your wish. You must find out what it's like to lead a rancher's life."**

**"Are you kidding me?"** asked Trei. He doesn't want to believe Flik's words, but he is currently watching the miracle with his own two eyes. He has no choice but to believe in him. **"So, you're telling me that I am stuck here for a while?"**

**"Who are you talking to?"** asked an old man with a very deep voice. Trei did not notice the old man approach him from behind. He once again turns around to see who is the old man who is speaking to him. The dirty white shirt, sloppy hair style, baggy pants, and work boots sent a chill down his spine.

**"Excuse me, but. . . Who are you?"** asked Trei.

The hunched old man raises one of his over sized eyebrows at him in confusion. **"Is that supposed to be a trick question boy?"** he asked.

Flik tugs at Trei's shirt and says, **"His name is Takakura."**

After Trei learns his name, he tries to make the scene like if it was just a memory lapse. **"Oh right, Takakura. I was just talking to this little midget here. Seems like there was a little mistake somewhere,"**

**"Midget? What are you talking about?"** asked Takakura as he rubbed his poorly trimmed jet black hair.

**"Don't you see this little man standing next to me?"** said Trei pointing at Flik.

Takakura looks in the direction Trei points at, but sees nothing. He then checks Trei for signs of alcohol abuse. **"Seems like you had a little bit too much to drink at the New Years party at the Blue Bar last night. I warned you last night to go easy on the hard stuff."**

Trei lets out another stressful sigh and confesses, **"I give up! I can't take this anymore! Listen to me old man! Yesterday I was in my room thinking about whether or not I should take over my dad's ranch. Then suddenly, this little elf called Flik takes me five years into the future. Now I am here, and I have no idea what's going on!"**

Trei takes a few heavy breaths after explaining his situation to Takakura. Old man Takakura shakes his head, none of what Trei told him made any sense. He places his hand on Trei's shoulder and says, **"Sounds like raising the ranch and a family is finally getting to you. I know it's hard, but you have to hang in there!"** After thinking for a moment, Takakura starts to walk to the barn and continues, **"Why don't I take care of the animals for the day? You can take the day off, and spend time with your family."**

**"But I-"**

Takakura raises his right arm, and cuts Trei off. **"Don't worry about it. Just do me a favor, and tell Muffy I said Hi."**

**"Muffy?"** asked Trei.

Flik tugs on Trei's shirt to get his attention once again. **"That is the name of your wife!"** it said.

Trei sighs in disbelief and whispers, **"Great! I married a _'Muffy'_! What kind of name is that anyway?"**

Takakura leaves Trei to do the chores of the day. Trei takes a look around the ranch for a moment. Even though he knows for a fact that he is awake, he cannot believe that everything he is seeing is real. Then he moves his attention to Flik who is following him around. He is still upset, but he also knows that the small Harvest Sprite is the only one who can help him.

He clears his throat and says, **"So Flik. Am I really five years into the future?"**

**"Yes you are!"** answers Flik cheerfully. It points to the small watering hole near the house and says, **"Take a look for yourself!"**

Trei goes over to the watering hole to see his own reflection in the water. He is amazed at what he sees in the reflection. He has indeed aged what seems like more than 5 years. His well groomed hair is now replaced by spiky damaged hair from the dirt, sweat, and work. His skin is not as smooth anymore, and he can see a few wrinkles on his face. His arms and legs are wider and stronger from all the physical labor, and he has gained a little weight. He almost couldn't recognize himself in the reflection.

**"My god! What happened to me! I look like my old man!"**

**"That's what happens to humans when you raise a ranch and a family. Everything changes! Your appearance, your voice, and even your personality!"**

Trei thought for a second and says, **"Hey, why couldn't Takakura see you earlier? I know he's old, but I think he can see pretty well. And you're big enough to notice."**

**"Being able to see Harvest Sprites is proof of your bloodline. Your father was also able to see Harvest Sprites!"** answered Flik.

**"I see."** answered Trei. He thought for a second, then asks, **"Well, what do I do now?"**

**"What do you think?"** answered Flik. **"First of all, you need to stop telling everyone the truth. People will think you lost your mind. The next thing is to find out what has happened within the last 5 years. Then continue your life like if nothing odd has happened. Are you happy with his life, or not? Once you learn the answer, you can go back home."**

**"I guess I have no choice."** said Trei.

After they said their goodbyes, Flik vanishes to allow Trei to live his wish. After thinking up of a few good excuses, he returns to the house to try and find any clues as to what happened within the last 5 years. As he arrives at the front door, Muffy opens the door and walks out with Myo in her arms. While Trei was busy talking to Flik, Muffy was busy changing Myo's clothing, and her own.

Since he was in a panic earlier, he failed to notice how beautiful Muffy is. She has long golden blond hair that shimmers in the early sun. Her skin is very smooth yet slightly pale. She has a slim yet hourglass figure to her body. The black dress she wears made her curves more noticeable, and reveals miles of sexy legs. The black hair band gives her a feminine youthful charm. The matching shoes gives Trei the impression that she knows how to dress well. She is Trei's idea of perfect beauty. The little girl in her arms is dressed to make her look like a porcelain doll.

Muffy stares at him with an annoyed look in her green eyes. Then she looks away and says, **"Well, you might as well hurry up and get changed. We are going to be late!"**

Trei rubs his confused head and asks, **"Late? For what?"**

**"You know, the New Years gathering at the villa!"** yelled Muffy.

Trei wants to say something to her, but he doesn't want to say anything that he is going to regret later. So he did what his wife asks without questions. As he walks in the house, he realizes that he has no idea where he keeps his clothing. He finds a dresser on the other side of the bedroom, so he starts his search there. After opening the top drawer, he finds women's undergarments that were obviously Muffy's. He slams the drawer shut, and his face turns red.

The bottom drawer contains all of his own clothing, but nothing he found were suitable for a party. Muffy was dressed very formal, so Trei needs to find some appropriate clothes for himself. After several minutes of searching, he turns around, and notices a tuxedo that's well pressed on the bed. He knows that Muffy had to have left it out for him.

He changes into the tuxedo, and washes his hair. Using whatever he could find to smoothen his hair down like he had it last night. Trei joins his wife outside who was waiting patiently. She fixes his tie and collar neatly, and shakes his hair around to return the spikes. Without saying a word, she picks up her daughter, and starts walking out of the ranch. Trei has no idea how to get to the villa on his own, so he follows Muffy. As they walk together, he takes a good look at his wife. Muffy noticed him stare, so she got curious.

**"What's wrong with you? You've been acting so strange since you got up this morning."**

**"Oh, nothing."** answered TreiHe tries his best to act natural, but Muffy is not convinced. **"I just had a very strange dream last night, that's all."** continues Trei.

Muffy stops for a moment to place her hand on Trei's forehead. Then she stares into his eyes looking for anything unusual. **"You don't have a fever, and you don't look drunk either."** Muffy sighs and says, **"What am I going to do with you?"**

They continue to walk together towards the villa. As they walk, Trei becomes very interested in the living conditions of the village. All the houses are pretty small, and spread throughout the land. He also notices that some of the houses are businesses, but without signs he has no idea what type they are.

Soon enough, they arrive at the bottom of a hill. Trei looks up, and sees a grand mansion resting at the top. The shock leaves him in awe. Muffy is confused at Trei's reaction, but she ignores it. She has had enough odd behavior from him already. They approach the mansion at the top of the hill, and Muffy knocks on the front door. The door opens, and a well dressed butler greets them.

**"Good morning Master Trei! How are things at the ranch!"** said the butler. **"And good morning to you too Lady Muffy!"**

**"Hello Sebastian!"** greets Muffy. **"Are we late for the party?"**

**"Not at all."** answered Sebastian. He then smiles at Myo who sits in Muffy's arms. **"And is that little Miss Myo you're holding? She is so cute!"**

**"Yes, she's getting pretty big!"** answered Muffy.

**"Please don't wait outside. Come in!"** invited Sebastian. Trei and Muffy walks in to join the rest of the village in the new Years celebration. All the people at the Party knows Trei very well, but he has no idea who they are. This made Trei feel very uncomfortable. They all keep talking to him, but all he does is smile awkwardly, and nod from time to time. He only hopes that no one notices his little problem.

Soon enough, Muffy walks up to Trei with Myo in her arms, and says, **"Trei, can you do me a little favor? Can you hold Myo for a while while I gossip with the other women?"**

**"Um, sure?"** said Trei unsure on how to respond.

Muffy places Myo in his arms, and walks off to go chat. He felt strangely odd holding a toddler in his arms, especially since the child is supposed to be his daughter. From where he stands, he can overhear the conversation between Muffy, and another woman who looks like a school teacher.

**"So, how are things going between you and your husband? Still getting along?"** asked the school teacher.

**"Things are usually great!" **answered Muffy. **"But today, Trei was acting a little bit too playful this morning. Pretending that he doesn't know me."** Muffy then turns to Trei's direction, and gives him a mean glare. He feels embarrassed, so he disappears into the crowd.

**"God, that woman is a grouch!"** he whispered to himself. **"Why on earth did I marry her anyway?"** Myo reaches up, and pulls on a strand of his hair.** "Ouch! Myo, stop that!"**

Trei continues to walk around, and helps himself to some snacks. After a few moments, everyone starts to group together near the stairwell in the center of the main hall leading to the second floor. Trei becomes curious enough to follow them. At the crowd, he taps the shoulder of a blond man wearing old fashioned clothing of the 70's era.

**"Hey, what's going on?"** asked Trei.

**"She's coming!"** said the blond man full of excitement. **"I better make sure I look my best!"**

Trei is not sure he understood what he is talking about. So he just looks up, and waits to see what is all the commotion about. After a few minutes, the door on the upper floor opens, and a lovely young woman walks out. Her medium length honey brown hair caught Trei's eye. Her gentle smile makes Trei blush in awe. Her white and blue dress amazes everyone in the crowd. Like Muffy, she also wears a hair band which makes her look more charming than she already is. As she descends the stairs, everyone compliments her on her new dress.

**"Oh. . . .My. . . GOD!!! Lumina is so beautiful today!"** said the blond man who is even more excited than before.

**"Yeah, she really is beautiful."** commented Trei.

The blond man elbows him on his side, and says, **"Back off! You're already married to a hot chick. This one is mine!"**

After Lumina reaches the bottom of the stairs, she bows gracefully, and smiles once again. Trei is very impressed by her elegance and graceful nature. **"Hello everyone. And Happy New Year. Welcome once again to Romana's Villa."**

Everyone in the room claps. Her sweet and refined voice charms Trei once again. He takes a look at his wife, and notices that they are both very different. Almost like opposites. Muffy's manners almost compares to that of a classic city girl. Lumina on the other hand appears very refined and gentle.

By the way everyone acts, he can tell that Lumina is a very important person to the village. He is curious to know more, so he asks the blond man.

**"Hey, who is she anyway?"**

**"Come on! You know better than to ask that question!"** snapped the blond man. **"She is Lumina, Romana's niece. That young lady is Romana's last living relative, so she is very important to the village. Romana owns this huge estate, so that means the old bat is loaded! Anyone who marries that hottie will eventually inherit the family fortune!"**

Soon, an elder woman walks up to Lumina's side. She is very old with light gray hair. She can barely walk, but she is able to manage. Her left hand is resting on her back, which is evident that she has spinal problems. Her right hand holds a cane that she uses to walk.

**"Well, it's a full house again."** said the old woman. **"I'm sure that you all know that I am Romana, your host. Welcome to my home, and Happy New year to everyone. Following our tradition, my niece will play us a special song."**

Lumina takes another bow, and takes a seat in front of a grand piano. **"I hope you all enjoy it."** she said. She begins to play _'Auld Lang Syne'_, and everyone sings the words. Everyone is amazed at Lumina's musical talent for her young age. After the song is over, everyone claps cheerfully and full of emotion.

Everyone settles down after a few minutes, and the party resumes. Everyone starts talking to one another once again about the events that took place the year before, and future goals for the coming year. Trei has no idea what has happened for the last five years, so he has nothing to talk about. All he does is sit on a chair, and watch everyone else enjoy themselves.

Lumina sits fairly close to where Trei is sitting with his daughter. Crowds of people surrounds Lumina asking questions of her plans for the future. Trei notices that Lumina sometimes stares at him from time to time. Every once in a while, she also waves at him.

**"Okay, this is weird."** thought Trei. **"That girl Lumina can't stop looking at me. Why is she waving at me? What could this mean?"** He thinks for a moment, then concludes, **"Could it be that I have been seeing other women on the side? I don't know, so much has changed within the last 5 years. What should I do? Should I wave back?"**

**"Daddy?"** said the little girl in Trei's arms.

Trei is very surprised to hear his daughter finally speaks. **"Oh, so you can talk?"** He takes a good long look at Myo. He can tell that she is in fact his daughter. Her eye and hair color matches his perfectly. She does have some of Muffy's traits, but not many. **"So tell me, how old are you?"**

**"Tree."** said Myo with a baby accent.

**"I see. So tell me, do you know who am I?"**

**"Hee hee. Daddy funny."** answered Myo.

Trei lets out another stressful sigh, **"I forgot. I'm talking to a three year old. God, I'm so confused."**

The party ends at 6:00 pm, and everyone goes home. Muffy walks home with Myo in her arms, and Trei follows her. He notices that Muffy looks pretty upset on the way home. He has no idea what is bothering her this time. They do not speak a word until they arrived home.

Later that night, Myo is tucked in bed, Muffy is already changed into her night gown and hair rollers, and Trei searches the bottom dresser for something to change into. He has a hard time finding anything in the pile of work clothes and underwear. Muffy is still upset, and Trei has yet to know the reason why.

**"What are you looking for?"** asked Muffy as she lays on the bed.

**"Something comfortable to wear. I can't sleep in this suit, and all I see are work clothes."** answered Trei.

Muffy sighs, **"Don't you think there's something _'special'_ about today?"**

**"Yeah, it's New Years day."** answered Trei. His answer only makes her more upset.

**"No, I meant something VERY special. You do remember, do you?"** asked Muffy once again.

**"I guess it must have slipped my mind."** said Trei thoughtlessly.

Muffy becomes impatient, and throws the sheets over herself. **"Fine then! I'm going to sleep! But don't think that I'll forget this!"**

**"God, she's such a pain in the ass! Why is she so mad at me for? I just don't get her."** said Trei to himself as he continues to search.

He finally finds a plain white shirt and some shorts. As he pulls them out, a small white box falls on the floor. The box has a small tag attached to it that has the message, **"For Muffy."** written on it.

Muffy heard the box fall on the floor. She pulls off the covers, and gets up to see what it is. She quickly notices the tag attached to the small package.

**"Trei, what is that? Is that for me?"** asks Muffy.

**"I think so."** Trei picks up the small box, and hands it to Muffy.

Muffy opens the box revealing a golden heart shaped pendant. The pendant had the words _"Happy Anniversary"_ written on it. Muffy's mood quickly brightens believing that he remembers their wedding anniversary.

**"It's so beautiful! Is this why you were acting so strange all day? You wanted to make sure I would be surprised?"**

Trei rubs the back of his head. He doesn't know what else to tell her, so he went with the flow. **"Uh, yeah! I guess so. Um. . . Happy Anniversary!?"**

Muffy throws herself in his arms, and kisses him on the lips. Trei pushes her away completely freaked out by her reaction.

**"What's wrong?"** asked Muffy?

**"Um, it was so sudden, that I lost my breath. Sorry about that."**

Muffy leers at him awkwardly, but the thought that Trei remembered their anniversary makes her forgive him. She climbs back into bed, and pats the space reserved for him. **"Well, let's go to bed."** she invited.

Trei takes a good look at the bed. He has never climbed into bed with a woman before. Even though he has been doing it for some time before, he is not comfortable doing it now.

**"I think I'll go to sleep on the floor today."** said Trei.

**"Why?"** asked Muffy.

**"Because. . ."** Trei tries his hardest to come up with an excuse. All he can do is cough a couple of times and says, **"I think I caught a cold. I shouldn't sleep in the same bed with you because you might catch it too."**

**"Well. . . Okay I guess."** said Muffy.

Trei grabs some sheets that he found while searching for some clothes, and rests them on the floor. While Muffy's head is turned, he quickly changes, and rests for the evening on the floor. He is very tired, and falls asleep quickly. The day was a bit too much for him. He wonders if he is able to handle what will come in the days ahead. And how long will he have to endure until he returns to his own time?

**To be continued.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**On the Job**

**Spring 2, 2005 (Tuesday)**

Morning arrives at Forget-Me-Not Valley, Muffy wakes up to the shining early sun. She sits up, stretches her arms and lets out a huge yawn. She reaches out to the other side of the bed and tries to wake up her husband, but notices that Trei is not there. She then remembers that he decided to sleep on the floor the night before. She hops out of bed, and shakes his shoulder to wake him up.

**"Trei, sweetheart. Time to get up, It's morning."**

Trei sits up feeling groggy. He rubs his eyes and says, **"Uh, I had a very strange dream last night. I found myself in a strange house, and a strange woman hugs me. . ."** Before he finishes his story, he looks to his side and finds Muffy stare at him. **"Oh my god! It's still going!" panicked Trei.**

**"Shh! Can you keep it down. You'll wake up Myo again."** said Muffy.

Trei sighs and says, **"Sorry, it was just a nightmare."**

Muffy closes her eyes, and puckers her lips waiting for her _"good morning"_ kiss. As soon as she bring her lips close to his, he moves away nervously. **"Okay, I know that we're married and everything, but I can't do this! I don't even know her yet!"** thought Trei.

Wondering why Muffy hasn't felt her husband's warm tender lips against hers, she opens her eyes. She notices that Trei has pulled himself away from her. Trei's eyes resembles that of a nervous child who has never kissed a woman before. She becomes annoyed at his reaction, so she turns away and says, **"If you don't want to kiss me, fine then. But I won't forget this."**

She walks to Myo's bed, and wakes her up. After waking her up, she carries her around for a few minutes until she is fully awake. She then turns around, and sees that Trei still has not moved a muscle since he woke him up. She sighs again and says, **"Are you going to sit there all day? Why don't you go take a shower?"**

For a moment, he forgets how to get to the bathroom. He knows that asking his wife for directions would be too strange, so he uses his common sense instead. In the bedroom, he finds two doors. One door leads outside, and the other leads to the kitchen. Yesterday morning, he was able to find the washroom from the kitchen. He remembers that there was a second door next to the washroom, so he gets up and goes over to that door. He opens the door to find the bathtub, he sighs in relief and walks in.

**"Good, I found the bathroom."** whispered Trei to himself. **"I sure could use a bath right about now. Yesterday was so hectic, I didn't get a chance to take a bath."**

In the corner of the bathroom, he notices a pile of clothing resting on a small table. They are cleaned, pressed, and neatly folded. They are men's clothing like the ones he found in his drawer the day before.

**"Muffy must have laid this out for me last night before we went to sleep. You know. . . Being married may not be so bad after all. Well, let's get to it, and take a shower."**

He undresses, and steps into the shower. It takes a while for the hot water to come around, one of the inconveniences of living in the countryside. As he showers, Muffy walks into the bathroom. The shower is so loud, that Trei doesn't hear her come inside. Muffy undresses, and slowly climbs into the shower with him. She presses her body against his, and tries to wrap her arms around him. Trei turns around, and sees his wife in the bathtub with him as naked as the day she was born. He screams out of panic, and pulls the curtain between them.

**"Muffy! What are you doing in here!"** yelled Trei.

**"What do you think, I want to take a shower."** answered Muffy.

**"You didn't know that I was in here first?"** asked Trei.

**"Yeah, what's wrong? We take showers like this all the time."** answers Muffy.

**"We do?"** asked Trei. Muffy leers at him which makes him feel nervous. He knows that he is married, but he couldn't do this sort of thing, and keep a straight face. So, he tries his best to come up with an excuse. **"Well. . . I'm feeling a bit shy today. So I think it's best if we take our showers separately. Maybe we could do it another day?"**

**"Shy?"** asked Muffy. **"Why are you being so insecure? You've seen my body so many times already! And I've seen every inch of yours too! For god sakes, we have a child together! How do you think babies are made anyway?"** Trei's face turns red in embarrassment. Muffy turns away and yells, **"Ugh, Fine then! Take your shower in peace! I'll go make breakfast!"**

Muffy steps out of the shower, and grabs a bath robe. She storms out of the bathroom angrily, and slams the door behind her. Trei quickly runs to the door, and locks it before something else happens. He leans against the door trying to catch his breath, he could not believe what he just saw.

He finishes his bath without any incidents. He walks out changed into the working clothes that was left out for him. He takes a good look at himself outside the bathroom. Although the blue pants are tough and comfortable, he feels that the white shirt would get dirty too easily out in the barns. The heavy leather boots and gloves are also comfortable and well used. Since he knows that he has to do some farm work, he didn't bother styling his hair. He just left it spiking around in all directions.

He finds his wife making breakfast in the kitchen. Unlike yesterday, Muffy now wears a scarlet red dress, a very small blue jacket, black hair band and slippers. The skirt ends around her kneecaps, which still reveals plenty of well toned legs. He sits on the table, and waits to be served. After a few minutes, Muffy sets a plate of food in front of him. She then returns to the stove, and starts preparing another batch.

Trei was expecting a well-made home cooked meal, but he looks down at his plate and sighs in disbelief. Without taking time to think about his words, he says, **"Umm. . . I know that you're mad at me and everything, but did you have to burn the food?"** Muffy suddenly stops cooking shocked by his comment. He grabs a fork, and starts to poke at the food without eating anything. **"I mean look at these eggs. The borders are completely black, and the inside is hardly cooked. The toast smells like charcoal, and is as hard as wood."** Muffy's face turns red in fury as Trei continues to insult her food. He fails to notice her become angry, so he continues, **"The fish is too well done. It's crunchy and tasteless. I'm sorry, but I can't eat this."**

Muffy has tried her best to control herself, but she can't take anymore of his insults. She walks to the table almost stomping, and slams her palms against the table shaking everything. Trei jumps back completely terrified of her.

**"WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU!!!"** yelled Muffy to the top of her lungs. **"First, you don't kiss me! Then you crap bricks at the sight of my body! Then you make fun of my cooking that hasn't changed since we got married!"**

**"You mean this is normal?"** said Trei with a terrified look on his face.

Tears start to fall from Muffy's angry eyes. Trei knows that her feelings are hurt from his odd actions. She trembles as she says, **"I'm trying my best for you, but you're just making things impossible!"**

Trei is in a tight spot. He wants to get out of the house as soon as possible to give her some time to calm down. He looks out the window, and remembers that he works as a rancher. He runs out of the kitchen yelling, **"I need to go to work now, see you later!"**

Even after he left, Muffy still feels frustrated and depressed. She sits on the table forgetting that she has food burning on the stove. She places her hands on her face, and cries her frustrations away.

As soon as Trei steps out of the house, he stops to catch his breath. He then looks up and says, **"Damn, she's scary when she's mad. I thought for sure that she was going to kill me."**

**"Hello Trei."** said a familiar voice. Trei looks down, and finds Flik standing in front of him once again. He quickly becomes angry at the sight of the small Harvest Sprite. **"So, tell me. How is the married life-GACK!!"**

Before Trei allows Flik to finish his sentence, he grabs him again and starts to shake him around once again. He yells, **"It sucks! I want to go back home, and I want to go back now!"**

Flik forces himself out of Trei's grasp on it's own, luckily it's not hurt. **"What's wrong? Can't get along with your wife?"** said Flik.

**"Don't get me started!"** answered Trei. **"She is mean, cranky, and has a severe attitude problem. There is no way I could have married her out of my own free will!"**

**"But you still married her whether you want to accept it or not."** said Flik.

**"Yeah, most likely a shotgun wedding."** answered Trei.

Flik laughs for a moment. Then he clears his throat and explains, **"Maybe Muffy is not the problem. Maybe it's you."**

Trei grabs Flik, and holds it close to his face. **"Me? Why would I be the problem?"**

**"Think about it."** answered Flik. **"Muffy married you, but you are not _'You'_. . . Well, technically you are, but this _'You'_ is not the same person Muffy married. Just like you are getting frustrated, she is most likely feeling the same way."**

**"Okay, I get it already."** said Trei under his breath. **"So, what am I supposed to do now?"**

**"You married her for some reason. There are millions of women in this world, but you chose her. If you find out what made you fall in love with her, you may have an easier time getting back home."**

Trei knows that Flik is right. He let out another stressful sigh and says, **"Okay, I'll try a little bit harder. Anything that will send me home sooner, the better."**

Trei returns Flik to the ground. "That's good to hear." it said with a smile on it's face. **"Now, let's talk about your job. How is it going? Enjoying your life as a rancher?"**

Trei stares out at the pasture and the barn. He knows that he has been doing ranch work for years, but now he doesn't know how to do the work. So he tells Flik, **"I haven't even started working yet. That old guy Takakura did the chores for me yesterday. Now that I think about it, I have no clue how to do anything."**

Flik happily announces, **"That's no problem! We'll ask my brothers for help! Follow me!"**

Flik runs out of the ranch before Trei had a chance to ask anything. He rubs his head from thought that there are more little Harvest Sprites other than Flik. But he doesn't have any choice but to rely on their help. He follows Flik out, and into the forest behind the ranch. Deep in the forest, he finds a small pond, and a huge tree that looks like it's been around for centuries. There is a magical aura coming from the air around the tree and pond.

**"Here we are!"** yelled Flik standing in front of the tree.

Trei looks around, but sees no other Harvest Sprites other than Flik. **"You must be kidding. There is nobody here!"**

**"Of course not. My brothers live inside of the great tree."** Flik walks up to a suspicious looking red and white mushroom growing at the base of the tree. He points at it and says, **"See this mushroom? Eat it."**

**"Are you sure that I am supposed to eat that? It looks like it could kill me."**

**"Trust me, you'll be fine."** assured Flik.

Trei carefully picks the mushroom, it has a strong scent that leaves him light headed. However, if he wants to return back to his home, he feels that he has to do what Flik tells him. In a single bite, he eats the mushroom. The horrid taste makes him want to vomit, but he holds it in to the best of his ability. He starts to feel weak shortly after. His vision becomes blurry, he falls to his knees, and collapses on the ground falling asleep.

Trei finds himself in a very strange place as soon as he wakes up. He is now inside a large room that looks like it is carved in the middle of a tree. He finds Flik standing next to him, but he screams in panic as soon as he sees that he is now as short as he is. In the room, he finds three more Harvest Sprites. A Harvest Sprite in read who is slightly taller than Flik. A Yellow heavily obese Harvest Sprite. And a short Harvest sprite wearing blue clothing that is far too big.

**"Flik, what is going on here! Why are you as tall as I am?"** asked Trei.

**"I didn't get taller, you just got shorter."** Flik walks over to the other Harvest Sprites, and announces, **"Welcome to the great tree of the Harvest Sprites!"**

**"Um, That's great and everything. But who are those three behind you?"** asked Trei.

The three new Harvest sprites look at one another in confusion. Then they stare at Flik and says, **"Why is Trei acting like if he doesn't know us!"** Trei is shocked that they know his name.

**"That's because he doesn't."** answered Flik. **"Nik, Nak, Flak, allow me to introduce you to Trei from 5 years ago!"**

All three new Harvest Sprites shakes their heads in disbelief. The tall Harvest sprite in red says, **"Not another one! What is this, like the fourth time already?"**

**"It's not my fault."** answered Flik. **"These humans make the most typical wishes. Always wanted to know what the future holds for them. Then I get the heat for their problems."**

**"I guess that's true."** said the Harvest Sprite in yellow.

**"Well, we might as well re-introduce ourselves."** said the Harvest Sprite in blue.

The red Harvest sprite steps forward and says, **"Hello Trei! I am Nik, the Harvest Sprite of family."**

The short Harvest Sprite in blue follows, **"My name is Nak, the Harvest Sprite of animals."**

Finally, the obese Harvest sprites waddles over and says, **"And I am Flak, the Harvest Sprite of crops and produce."**

Trei scratches his head and asks, **"Okay. . . So, how many of you Harvest Sprites exist in the world?"**

**"Let's see."** said Nik. **"Last time I checked, there are 101 of us."**

Trei doesn't want to have to deal with the Harvest sprites, but he lets out another stressful sigh and says, **"I guess I have no choice. I really don't know how to do any ranch work, can you all please help me?"**

**"Sure we can!"** cheered all the Harvest Sprites.

All four sprites leaves the tree, and Trei follows them out. Outside the tree, Trei wakes up from his odd dream, and finds all the Harvest Sprite outside. The only logical explanation that he could come up with is that he was inside the tree spiritually, but his body remained outside.

He follows all the Harvest Sprites back into the ranch. Each harvest Sprite is only good at one specific type of job. They split up, one goes over to the tool shed, one goes over to the fields, and the last one goes over to the house. Flik remains with Trei. Trei decides to go over to when Nak is to hear what he has to say.

**"I am the Harvest Sprite who is good with animals. I shall teach you how to care for the animals, come inside of the tool shed with me."** Inside the Tool shed, Nak explains what each tool is used for. Then they go into the barn where he is introduced to all his animals. He has several cows, bulls, sheep, and a horse. One by one, Nak explains how to care for the large animals. After Nak is done explaining the barn, they head over to the coop where Trei is introduced to the chickens and ducks. Once again, Nik explains how to care for the birds in the ranch.

After Nak is done, Trei heads out of the coop and finds Flak. Flak says, **"I am the Harvest Sprite of crops and produce. I will teach you how to care for plants, and how to ship your goods."** Flak explains that there are three field in the ranch. The one closest to the house has poor soil, and is used to grow trees. The one furthest has good soil, and is used to plant smaller crops like strawberries. Flak also explains that the crops need to be watered twice a day, and needs fertilizer every week. They move over to the tall store room where Flak explains that all goods that needs to be shipped must go inside the refrigerated storage box. Takakura takes all the goods, and pays Trei later in the day.

Finally, it is Nik's turn. Nik says, **"I am the Harvest Sprite of Family. I am good when it comes to teaching you how to get calves. I can also offer you advice on how to raise your daughter."** Nik gives Trei some basic ideas on how to raise children. After they get that covered, Nik takes him back to the barn where Trei is taught that cows can only give milk after giving birth. The bulls in the barn mates with the cows, and gets them pregnant. The cows give birth to calves, and starts to give special milk. Ten days later, the cows start to give normal milk for three seasons. However, there is no rooms for new young cows, so Nik explains that calves need to be sold.

After the three Harvest Sprites are done with their teachings, it is now time that Trei put all that he learned into practice. Even with the help of the Harvest Sprites, he has a tough time with the work. He knows that the old Trei has been doing the work for years, but since he skipped five years, catching up is much harder than starting from the beginning. Even after he is done with the work later that day, he knows that he couldn't do the work alone yet.

At sunset, the Harvest Sprites said their goodbyes. They need to return to the tree before it gets dark, and wild animals might mistake them as prey. But before they leave him alone at the farm, Trei yells, **"Wait a minute! Will you be able to help me tomorrow?"**

**"We will!"** yelled Nik, Nak, and Flak.

**"I can't."** answered Flik.

**"What!?"** yelled Trei surprised by Flik's answer. **"Why not?"**

**"I have to get going. There are other people across time who needs guidance. I will not be able to check on you for some time."**

**"Don't you dare!"** yelled Trei who is now running at Flik to attempt to catch him. However, Flik vanishes before he is able to get his hands on the Harvest Sprite. He stomps on the dirt and complains, **"I can't believe it! He just left me here!"**

**"Don't worry Trei!"** yelled the other Harvest Sprites. **"We'll help you out until the end!"**

The Harvest Sprites returns to their tree. Before Trei returns to his home, he takes another good look at the ranch. He didn't go home until 7:00 PM. He opens the door slowly, and finds Muffy and Myo asleep already. The house completely clean, laundry is washed, and clothing is folded for the next day. Muffy is tired from working trying to get her mind off her frustrations, and Trei is also tired from the first day of ranch work.

**"Looks like she will not be complaining about me sleeping on the floor tonight."** he said to himself.

Trei grabs the sheets, and tries to sleeps on the floor. He is worried about the work load, and if he can really handle it until he returns home. He is worn out, and falls asleep quickly.

**To be continued**.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Discovery**

_Spring 5, 2005 (Friday)_

Five days has passed since Trei woke up in Forget-Me-Not Valley. He is still struggling to have any relationship with his wife and child. He still sleeps on the floor, avoids kissing his wife, and bathes alone. In order to avoid Muffy discovering the truth, he wakes up before her and runs out of the house to do the ranch work. He tries his best to stay busy until late at night when Muffy and Myo are already asleep.

Trei is not happy with his life in the ranch. He gets bored very easily, and the days seem like weeks. He then comes home feeling very exhausted at the end of the day. The Harvest Sprites has been giving him guidance, but even that is not enough. It is too much work to be thrown at him all at once.

Today at 5:00pm, his works gets done early, and there is no way that he could stay out of the house any longer. Muffy is happy that she is getting to spend time with him, but still upset that he has been avoiding her all that time. Inside the house, Trei is just as bored as outside. There is nothing for him to do, not even a decent television show to watch.

At 6:00pm, Muffy is getting dressed in her blue dress in the bathroom. Trei walks around the bedroom blankly almost going insane from the boredom. Myo is by the beds playing with her toys. Soon enough, Myo gets bored with them, so she turns to her father for attention.

She walks up to him, and raises both her arms in the air. She says, **"Up! Up!"** while she is reaching for her father. Trei looks at her in utter confusion, he has no idea what does _"up"_ mean.

Muffy walks into the bedroom not too long after Myo starts yelling _"up"_. She notices Myo raising both her arms up, and Trei looking at her in a daze. She couldn't tell which one is the child at that moment.

**"Aren't you going to play with her?"** complained Muffy. **"You haven't done that in a few days."**

Trei looks at Muffy, and nods silently. He picks up Myo, but he is still clueless as to what to do with her. He knows by Muffy and Myo's reaction that he used to play with her all the time, but he now has no clue how to play with his baby girl. Nik has given him some advice on raising kids, but each child is unique and needs special attention.

**"Snuggle. . . Trow!"** cheered Myo. Not fully sure what she meant, he throws her up in the air slightly, and snuggles her. He also pats her back which makes her feel happy.

Soon enough, Myo makes an odd face which causes Trei to feel nervous. The face she makes seems like she is struggling or forcing something. As soon as she is done, Myo begins to cry.

**"Hey, what's wrong with her!?"** yelled Trei trying to get Muffy's attention over Myo's crying. **"I was playing with her, then she made a funny face!Now she's crying, and she smells like crap!"**

Muffy sighs and takes her daughter from Trei's arms. She takes off Myo's pants, and changes her diaper. This is the first time Trei remembers witnessing a baby being changed in front of his eyes, and it is making him feel queasy. After she is done changing the diaper, Muffy places Myo back in Trei's arms once again.

**"If you wanted me to change her, all you needed to do was ask."** complained Muffy.

**"How was I supposed to know that she needed to be changed?"** thought Trei. He knew that if he said it out loud, it would seem very strange to Muffy.

Myo starts to cry again. This time, even louder than before. Trei's ears are hurting, but since Myo is already in his arms, there was no way to cover them without dropping her.

**"Now what!? She's changed, so why is she crying now!?"** asked Trei as loud as he could.

**"Can't you tell!?"** asked Muffy also yelling as loud as she could. **"She sounds like she's hungry!"**

**"Then feed her!!"** yelled Trei.

**"You'll have to take care of that! I'm going out!"** continued Muffy.

**"Going out!? Where are you going!?"**

**"It's Friday remember!? I have to go to my cooking class with Ruby! I'll be back in a couple of hours!"** Muffy walks out the door. Before she closes the door, she turns around and yells, **"Oh by the way! I left a kettle on the stove! Make sure it doesn't boil over!"**

She then closes the door leaving Myo in Trei's care. He has no idea what else to do but to rock her until the crying stops. As soon as she quiets down, Trei sighs and says to Myo, **"Okay, so you're hungry. What do you want to eat?"**

Myo sniffles and sobs for a minute before she says, **"Cake."**

**"Cake?"** Trei asked. He then carried her to the kitchen, and sits her on the table. **"Okay, let's see what we have in the kitchen."**

In an attempt to find some cake, Trei looks through the refrigerator, cupboards, drawers, and anywhere else food can be found. But he finds no cakes for Myo. He looks at Myo nervously and tells her, **"Um. . . Sorry, but it looks like we don't have any."**

Myo wastes no time in crying again. This time, Trei is able to cover his ears, but it's useless. He could still hear her crying with his ears covered. Trei could not take her crying for too long, so he yells, **"Okay, stop crying!"** Myo quiets down, but she is still sobbing. Trei sighs in relief and says, **"I'll find something else for you to eat. Just wait there."**

He digs through the refrigerator to see if there is anything else he could feed her. He finds a carrot, and places it in front of her hoping that she will eat it. She stares at it for a moment, then she starts to cry again. Trei returns to the refrigerator, and tries his luck with a series of items he is able to dig out. First an eggplant, then an ear of corn, a tomato, a turnip, then finally an unidentifiable fruit or vegetable Trei does not recognize. Myo still continues to cry.

Returning all of the produce to the refrigerator, Trei yells, **"Okay Fine!"** Myo quickly stops crying, but she continues to sob sadly. **"I'll try to cook something, what would you like me to make?"**

Myo sobs as she says, **"Fishy."**

**"O. . . Kay. I think I can do that."** Trei pulls a small fish out of the freezer, and places it into the oven. He remembers his mother Sarah making charbroiled fish by baking it in the oven. However, he has no idea how to use an oven, so he sets it to the maximum temperature. He thought it was a good idea so it can cook faster, but then the oven starts to smoke up. He pulls the fish out of the oven, and finds it burnt to a cinder.

**"Oh man, even Muffy can do better than this."** said Trei.

Myo starts to cry once again, this time even louder. Trei runs to Myo and says, **"Hey, I'm sorry! Geez, you're worse than your mother!"** Myo quiets down for a moment. Then Trei continues, **"I couldn't do the fish, would you like something else?"**

Myo sniffles and sobs some more before she says, **"Egg."**

**"Egg huh? I think I can do that at least."** said Trei feeling confident.

He pulls out a frying pan, and places it on the stove. He turns on the burner, and heads over to the refrigerator to get a couple of eggs. Trying his best to remember how his mother makes eggs for him, he grabs some oil and pours it on the pan. As he continues to pour, he turns around and says, **"Don't worry, I'll make the best eggs to the best of my ability!"**

However, as he is looking away, some of the oil spilled into the burner, and catches on fire. The sudden blaze pushes him onto the floor. Luckily he is fine. Myo starts to laugh at Trei's careless mistake.

Suddenly, the kettle starts to boil over. He was so preoccupied about feeding his daughter, that he forgot all about Muffy's warning. He runs over to the kettle and tries to move it, but the handle is made of metal. The handle became so hot as it was boiling the water, that it burns Trei's hands when he tries to move it. He drops the kettle, and the hot water spills on his pants.

As Trei jumps around in pain, he starts to smell something else in the kitchen burning. He forgot to turn off the oven and the stove. The oven continues to emit smoke, and the oil in the frying pan catches on fire. Trei panics and tries to put out the fires, but he only makes things worse. Myo claps her hands and watches in amusement as if Trei is putting on a show for her.

At that moment, Muffy walks into the house. She is depressed at first from her failure at her class, but she quickly smells smoke coming from the kitchen. She also hears loud crashing and screaming from Trei running around. She runs into the kitchen to see what is all the commotion about. She gasps as she watches Trei running around the kitchen trying horribly to get things under control. The stove is on fire, the floor is soaking wet, the oven is spitting out smoke like a chimney, and Myo is entertained by the disaster. Muffy quickly grabs the fire extinguisher, and puts out all the fires.

After things are under control, everyone takes a minute to look around. The kitchen is a complete mess. Muffy and Trei takes deep breaths trying to calm their nerves. Then Muffy leers at Trei furiously, all he could do is step away from her nervously.

**"What happened here!?"** Yelled Muffy with a terrifying tone. **"Were you trying to burn the house down!?"**

**"I'm. . . Sorry."** said Trei. He does not know what else to tell her.

**"You're sorry!? Look at this mess! It's going to take me forever to clean this up! And all you can just say is you're sorry!?"** Muffy then runs to Myo to see if she is okay. Luckily, she is completely fine. She then turns back to Trei and yells, **"And on top of all things, You had Myo just sit here and watch this disaster happen!! What would you do if something happened to her!?"**

Trei looked away in shame and says, **"Hey, I can't help it. I don't know how to cook after all."**

Muffy quickly drops her purse. A feeling of horror and shock suddenly comes over Muffy as she realizes that something is terribly wrong. She trembles with fear as she backs away from Trei.

**"What did you say?"** asked Muffy. **"You. . . Don't know how to cook?"**

Trei notices that Muffy is now afraid of him. He then realizes that he just said something wrong. **"Oh my god, was I supposed to?"** Trei tries his best to calm Muffy down, and says, **"Come on, I was just kidding. I'm-"**

**"STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!"** demanded Muffy.

Trei jumps back after hearing his wife's terrified words. He fans his hands up and down and says, **"Calm down Muffy, please don't freak out. I-"**

**"Who the hell are you!? What did you do with my husband!?"** interrupted Muffy.

Now even Trei begins to get scared. Nothing he could say at that point is going to comfort Muffy. He just remains quiet staring at her blankly. Muffy just looks back at him like if he is some sort of monster. As soon as she couldn't take it anymore, she runs out of the house grabbing Myo on the way out.

Trei is now alone in the house, confused and stunned. He thought for a moment that he may have destroyed whatever life he spent the last five years building. He wants to sit and think things over, but the huge mess in the kitchen is disrupting his concentration. He also decides to leave the house to get some fresh air, and think with a clear mind.

As he walks aimlessly through Forget-Me Not Valley, he finds himself at a huge lake close to the beach. Near the lake, he finds a huge log where he could sit and think about things for a while. He sat on the log for about an hour staring at the moon before someone finds him. A young woman slowly approaches Trei so that she does no startle him. As soon as she gets close enough, Trei notices her.

At first, he does not recognize her. But after a minute, he notices that the young woman is Lumina from the New Years party. But she is wearing different clothing this time. She is now wearing an olive-green and brown dress with tan shoes. An orange bandanna is tied around her neck, and a yellow hair band is in her hair. Trei looks at her for a minute without saying a word. Lumina looks up at the deep blue starry sky running her fingers through her hair, and asks, **"Can I sit with you?"**

**"Um, sure. Go ahead."** answered Trei.

Lumina sits next to Trei on the log. He is surprised at how close she is sitting, almost as if they are supposed to be close friends. He feels nervous, he wants to know why is an important girl like her is sitting next to him.

Lumina sighs and asks, **"So, how are things with your wife?"**

Trei hesitates to talk to her. Even though she acts like someone he knows well, in reality he doesn't know her at all. As they sit together, Lumina stares at Trei. She wonders why he is so silent, so she asks, **"Is everything okay? You don't look so well."** Lumina tries to move closer, but Trei moves away. She becomes very concerned, so she asks, **"What's wrong? You know you can tell me anything that's bothering you."**

Trei surrenders and tries to talk to her. **"I don't know. I'm lost, and I don't know where to go."**

Nothing that he just said to her makes any sense. So she asks, **"Are you having problems with your marriage?"**

**"All we do is fight. She gets so mad very easily, and she never gives me any space. I don't know what to do anymore."**

**"That's very odd. You and Muffy always got along before. Why the sudden change?"** asked Lumina.

Trei starts to feel a bit more comfortable talking to Lumina. He takes a deep breath and asks, **"Your name is Lumina right? Do you know who I am?"**

Hearing those words shocks Lumina. She looks at him in the eyes, and sees that he is very serious. So she answers, **"We're friends of course. You and I met 5 years ago shortly after moving to your father's ranch."** Lumina pauses for a minute, then asks, **"What happened to you?"**

**"Well, the thing is. . ."** He wants to tell her the truth, but he feels that he would only scare her if he does. Even so, since Lumina is a friend, he feels that she deserves some type of explanation. **"Last New Years Eve, I got a little drunk. I fell, and hit my head pretty hard. When I woke up in the morning, I forgot everything that happened within the last 5 years. I don't remember getting married, having a kid, meeting you, or even coming here at all."**

After thinking about what he said, he feels that his excuse is no better than the truth. But Lumina gets up and starts to think. He is worried about what she is thinking.

**"I get it, that explains everything."** said Lumina.

Trei is shocked to hear that she bought the lie. He also stands and asks, **"You actually believe me?"**

**"Well, you were acting very strange at the New Years party. You've always complimented on my piano skills, then you would tell me how well you and Muffy are getting along, then finally show off your daughter. But this year was different. I saw you at the party. But you never even came up to me and say hi. You just sat on a chair all by yourself with you daughter in your arms. The look in your eyes told me that you didn't know anybody. I tried to say Hi by waving at you, but you kept looking away. Then I haven't seen you since then."**

Trei felt relieved that there is someone who could understand him. **"Did you tell Muffy about your little problem?"** continued Lumina.

**"I tried, but it came out all wrong. Right now, she's terrified of me."** answered Trei.

**"I don't blame her. If I was in her shoes, I would probably feel the same way too."**

Trei nods in agreement. He finally dares to ask, **"Tell me, why did I fall in love with Muffy?"**

**"To tell you the truth, I don't know. Since we've met, you've always treated me like a younger sister. You only showed me that side of you. The other side is something only Muffy knows well. I was really surprised when you came to my house that day to announce that you and Muffy were getting married. It hurt very much, but I was able to get over it."**

**"Get over it?"** Trei asked curiously.

**"You really don't remember at all, do you?"** Lumina held her right arm, and fidgeted nervously. **"Before you married Muffy, I confessed my own feelings to you. Even though you know that I loved you very much, you still chose Muffy. . . Not me."**

Trei never knew that he actually had a choice. He has no idea why he chose to marry Muffy and not Lumina. In the few moments that he knows Lumina, he already sees that she is much kinder, understanding, and gentle than Muffy. But in the end, he still decided to be with Muffy.

**"So, what do I do from here?"** asked Trei.

**"Maybe you should rediscover why you fell in love with Muffy. Then maybe you and her could get along better. I'm sure that after you regain your memories, you won't have anymore problems."**

Trei smiles and says, **"Thank you for listening to me."**

Lumina smiles back and says, **"What are friends for? If you ever need to talk to me, you know where I live."** Lumina turns around and says, **"I should head back home now. Grandma might worry about me."** She then returns to the mansion.

Trei knows what he has to do, but he is not sure if he can pull it off. The house is still empty when he returns home. He is starting to get worried seeing that Muffy still has not returned.

Ten minutes later, Muffy finally walks into the house. She came back alone without Myo. Trei could still see the fear in her eyes. But he knows that he needs to be brave.

**"Who are you? Tell me the truth."** asked Muffy.

**"Muffy, I know that I've been acting a bit strange within the last few days. I guess I'm going through a very. . . Strange phase in my life. I know it sounds weird, but please trust me."** He tries to approach her, but she steps away.

Muffy then looks at him seriously and says, **"If you are my real husband, then prove it!"**

**"How?"** asked Trei.

**"My true husband knows what is my favorite food, and only he knows how to make it the right way. If you can make it, then I'll believe you."**

The terms are impossible for him, but he still sighs and agrees to them. He goes into the kitchen and stares at the mess. He is scared that he might not be able to comply, but he still wants to try.

The first thing he does is clean up the kitchen. Making something as impossible as an unknown recipe is bad enough, doing it in a messy kitchen is not going to help him. As he cleaned, he notices a small book near one of the cupboards. He took a look inside, and finds a bunch of recipes.

**"This cook book is hand written. And this is my handwriting."** said Trei. **"I guess I'm supposed to know how to cook all of these. But there are just too many recipes, it'll take a miracle to figure out which one of these is her favorite."**

As he flips the pages, he notices that one of the recipes is different. There is only one recipe in the whole book with a star shaped sticker on it. **"Pound cake?"** he said out loud. He thinks for a moment, and continues to talk to himself, **"Didn't Myo ask for cake earlier? Could this be what she was asking for?"** Trei continues to think for a while, and concludes, **"Myo has a very similar personality as her mother. . . Well, this is the only recipe that stands out. I guess I'll give it a shot, and make it. If this is not the one, I'm screwed."**

He tries his best to follow the recipe, but it is easier said than done. The recipe calls for several ingredients that he is not familiar with. They are mother's milk, mother's butter, and golden eggs. Instead of thinking too much about it, all he could really do is use his common sense. He checks the refrigerator for the ingredients. Inside, he finds many different types of milk butter and eggs. He felt that using any of them would do the trick, but he remembers Muffy saying that it has to be the exact way he used to make it. So selecting the correct ingredients is very important.

Normal, star, brown, and marble milk and butter. The variations confuses him. As he pushes the milk and butter around, he finds two pink containers. One of them has milk in it, and the other has butter. They are both labeled _"mother's"_. Since the recipe calls for mother's milk and butter, he decides to use them.

He has chicken and duck eggs in the refrigerator, however he can't tell the difference between them yet. He starts to get worried, he knows that if he uses the wrong egg, he is done for. However, he notices two eggs mixed in the bunch that has a slight golden color to the shell. Since the recipe calls for golden eggs, he decides to use them. As far as how does eggs get a golden color, he has no idea.

Following the recipe to the letter, Trei mixes all of the ingredients together. The cook book does not say exactly how much of each ingredient to use, so he tries his luck, and hopes for the best. He places the batter in a deep baking pan listed in the cook book, and places it in the oven. Soon enough, the cake is done. The cake smells good, but is it good enough for Muffy?

**"Okay, it's now or never. If this is wrong, then it's over."** he said to himself. He places the cake on a serving plate, and carefully cuts it into even slices. He carries it into the bedroom where Muffy waits patiently for him sitting on the bed. He presents his creation to her awaiting the results. Muffy is satisfied with the scent, but not fully convinced yet.

**"Well, it is the right recipe. But even Ruby can't make it taste the same way. It's time for the final test."** She grabs a fork, and has a small taste of the cake. Trei sweats nervously, it is his recipe, but he has no idea if he did it correctly. After sampling the cake, she places it down and stands up. She slowly walks up to him, and embraces him tenderly.

**"You really are my husband."** said Muffy. Trei finally feels relieved to hear that he did it right. Muffy starts to shed tears of joy, and says, **"I'm so sorry, I thought you were replaced my an evil clone or something. Please don't scare me like that."**

**"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."** reassured Trei.

Muffy tightened her embrace and says, **"Trei, I love you so much."**

Those words touches Trei's heart. Even though he has been expecting her to say them, this is the first time any woman other than his mother told him that. He is moved to tears, he dares to ask, **"Muffy. . . Do you really love me?"**

**"Of course I do. I wouldn't have married you if I didn't."**

Trei dared to wrap his own arms around her. This feeling is new and unusual for him. It feels warm and comforting. They held each other for a while, then Muffy left to get her daughter back.

Myo is tucked into bed, and she fell asleep quickly. Muffy then goes into the kitchen to finish cleaning. Trei feels guilty about leaving her to clean the kitchen alone, so he helps her. They both get done at 11:00pm. They are now both tired, and needs to sleep for the next day. Muffy climbs into the bed like usual. Trei wanted to sleep on the floor again, but he changes his mind. Instead, he climbs into bed with Muffy.

**"Trei?"** asked Muffy. **"What are you doing?"**

**"It's natural for a husband to sleep in the same bed with his wife. Isn't it?"**

Muffy grabs onto Trei, and holds him close. He is not fully comfortable being so close to a woman, but he needs to get used to it. **"You're right. You are my husband after all."** said Muffy.

They both quickly fall asleep. It was a rough night for both of them, but they were able to get through it together. Trei still has no idea what makes Muffy so special, but he wants to try a little bit harder to find out.

**To Be Continued.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Goodbye**

_Summer 1, 2005 (Wednesday)_

It's been an entire season since Trei found himself five years into the future. After the last incident with Muffy and Trei, things have settled down between them. Trei has been getting to know his family little by little, and he has been getting along with them. Even so, he still knows very Little about Muffy, and even less about himself.

During the time between the last incident and now, Trei has also been getting to know his fellow villagers all over again. Some of the villagers have found him to be a little strange, but he was able to manage enough excuses for any odd behavior. Lumina has also been helping him with anything she could with his situation. Plus the Harvest Sprites continues to help Trei with the Farm work. No sign of Flik has been seen since early Spring.

He wakes up at 6:00am like he is supposed to. At first, he was having trouble adjusting to this new schedule. Now it's more like second nature to him. Wake up at 6:00am, does his work, comes home, then spends time with the family and friends. He has learned how to live without modern day conveniences, but he still misses his old life.

As Trei rubs his eyes and jumps out of bed, Muffy remains in the bed sleeping. Trei walks up to the calendar, and notices that Spring has ended, and it is now the first day of Summer. He rips out the Spring page, and takes a look at the new season. As he reads the calendar, he finds something written on it that wakes him up instantly.

**"Summer 5 is Muffy's birthday?"** he said to himself. After taking a moment to reflect on the incident of the first day of Spring, he says to himself, **"I know for a fact that she is going to expect something special. If I don't do anything, she is going to kill me."**

After changing and preparing for the day, he goes off to work. As he works, he thinks hard about what to do for Muffy's birthday. But in the end, he came up with no ideas. He feels that asking Muffy directly would only make things complicated. Talking about it with random villagers would arouse suspicion. His only option is to talk to the only person in Forget-Me-Not Valley who somewhat understands his situation.

_Summer 2, 2005 (Thursday)_

Trei meets up with Lumina by the lake like they usually do. After greeting her, they sat down on the log where they can talk. Trei doesn't waste time in getting to his point. So he talks to her about his problem with Muffy.

**"You want me to tell you what are Muffy's favorite things?"** asked Lumina.

**"Yeah, I still don't know her very well yet. She expects me to know everything about her, which makes it tough for me to ask her directly."** answered Trei.

**"I'm sorry, but I really can't help you. To tell you the truth, I don't know Muffy too well either."** Trei takes a deep breath, and looks down feeling disappointed. Lumina looks up to the sunny blue sky and says, **"It's strange, a whole season has passed, and you still have amnesia. According to a book I read about amnesia, partial memory loss should only last about a week."**

Trei starts to feel nervous, then says, **"I see. . . I guess that I have a more severe case than I thought I did."** He feels bad about lying to her, but he knows that he needs to. After all, he is expected to regain memories that does not exist for him. He then asks, **"So, what do you know about Muffy?"**

**"Before you got married with her, she always spent her days working in the Blue Bar. She sometimes go out for walks, but she never visited the Villa except for New Years. I think the best person to ask would be Griffin, he did live with her before she got married."**

**"She. . . Lived with him?"** asked Trei. He knows that Griffin and Muffy are close friends, but they are not related in any way. But he did not know until now that they used to live with each other. Trei places his hand on his head ans whispers to himself, **"Great, I married a woman who used to live with another man. My standards really dropped as the time passes."** He then takes a deep breath and says to Lumina, **"But if I did ask Griffin, wouldn't he also ask about why am I asking him something that I should already know?"**

**"That is a problem, but I don't know who else to ask? I guess in the end, asking anyone would just make them feel uncomfortable."** said Lumina.

**"I know."** said Trei. He stands up and stretches his arms. He knows that he needs a new plan. So he tells her, **"Thanks for your help Lumina."**

**"It's fine."** said Lumina. She then takes a look at her watch and panics. **"Look at the time, I have to get back home and start practicing!"** Lumina then stands up in a hurry. As she takes her first step to the Villa, she trips on a root that is sticking out of the ground. Trei catches her before she fell on the ground and hurts herself. She looks back at him in the eyes while she is still in his arms. Memories of her past feelings for him start to flood her mind leaving her in a state of trance.

**"You okay Lumina?"** asked Trei.

**"I'm fine. I just tripped, and. . . Uh oh!"**

**"Uh oh? What happened?"** asked Trei. Lumina points at the direction behind him. He turns his head, and finds Muffy standing there watching them. A look of shock can be seen on her face as she watches her husband with another woman in his arms. Trei releases Lumina, and she takes a few steps back away from him.

**"Uh, Muffy? . . . I know what this looks like, but it's not what you think!"** said Trei.

**"So, this is why you have been acting strange since Spring? You've been seeing someone else?"** said Muffy.

**"No, it's not like that!"** yelled Lumina. **"We are just friends, I swear!"**

Muffy doesn't believe her. She takes off back to the ranch crying. Trei wants to go after her, but he didn't, feeling that he would only make things look worse. Lumina apologizes to him, but he told he that there is nothing to apologize for.

After giving Muffy enough time to herself, Trei returns home later that night. He was expecting Muffy to be holding a rolling pin to whack him on the head like in the cartoons. However, he finds the house empty. Neither Muffy or Myo are anywhere in the house, and all of their possessions are gone as well. He finds a note on a bookshelf on the other of the room. He opens the note and it says, _"Goodbye."_

**"I can't believe this!"** yelled Trei angrily. The fact that Muffy left him over a misunderstanding makes him feel abandoned. **"I didn't do anything! I couldn't just let he get hurt, could I!? I know it looked a bit 'wrong', but she could at least talk to me first before packing her things!"** He lets out a stressful sigh, and slams the note on the bookshelf. A book drops on the floor afterwards. **"I don't care anymore, let her do what she wants. It's not like I'm in love with her or anything. . . I'm so hungry, I'll make myself something to eat."**

Trei goes to the kitchen, and makes himself a sandwich. When he returns to the bedroom, he finds the book that fell on the floor earlier. He walks to it and picks it up. The book is already open, so he takes a peek inside. He finds many entries in the book that are handwritten. **"What is this? It looks like a diary or something. It must belong to Muffy."** He closes the diary, then says, **"Even though she's not here, I just can't read it. She'll probably come back for it later, so I'll just put it away."**

Trei places the diary halfway into the bookshelf. But then he realizes that something is odd about the diary. He pulls it back out, and checks the entries.

**"What the? This is MY handwriting!? This Diary is mine!?"** Trei grows annoyed about the thought of keeping a diary. **"First she has me cooking, now I'm writing diaries. What kind of man did she turn me into? I'm like her personal lap dog."** Getting upset is not going to help his situation. So he takes a deep breath, and walks back to the empty bed with the diary and sandwich in his hands.

He takes a moment to calm down. He looks at the diary and says, **"Well, since no one can tell me what I've been doing for the last 5 years, I might as well read about it myself. After all, it is mine."**

He opens the diary once again, and flips to the first entry. He begins to read silently to himself.

_Diary_

**_Spring 1, 2000_**

**After careful consideration, I decided to take over my father's ranch. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I owe him anything. I just wanted to see first hand at why did he wanted to live here instead of back at home in the city. Takakura promised that I could leave whenever I wanted to.**

**After a short tour of the ranch, Takakura offered me a tour of the entire village. I didn't know my way around, so I accepted his offer. Even though the village is small, the Valley is huge! I was grateful for the tour, I could have gotten lost without it.**

**I met quite a few people here in the Forget-Me-Not Valley. Some of them were very pretty women. The first one I met was a girl maned Celia. She's gentle, quiet, cute, and a hard worker. She lives and works at a farm not too far from my dad's ranch. Then I met Lumina, she is 18 years old, about three years younger than I am. She's cute too, but she's out of my league. She lives in an expensive looking mansion with her aunt. Her family must be loaded in order for her to live in a big place like that.**

**The girl that caught my eye is one called Muffy. She is very pretty with long blond hair, and emerald green eyes. She wears a red dress that is a bit revealing, but her body is too amazing not to notice anyway. I am still very surprised to see her living here in Forget-Me-Not Valley. Usually, a girl like her would be living in the city. She's older than me, quite mature, and she has an amazing smile. She lives and works in a bar that another guy runs. I guess that she is his wife, since they are not related.**

Flips Page

**_Spring 5, 2000_**

**Takakura and I were talking outside my house. Suddenly, we heard a girl screaming from somewhere inside the ranch. It was late, and I was not expecting any visitors, so I went to check it out. I was shocked to find Muffy in my ranch. I found her pinned against the side of the barn by the dog who was barking at her. Luckily, she was okay when I saved her. It would have been a mess if the dog bit her.**

**After chasing the dog away, I asked her why was she visiting at such a late hour. She told me that she was on her break, and she wanted to talk to me. So we sat by the pasture, and talked for a bit. I asked her about the guy she lives with, she told me that they are not in any relationship. She only lives in a spare room, that's all. I wasn't sure why, but I feel relieved to know that she is still single.**

Flips Page

**_Spring 9, 2000_**

**I decided to pay a visit to the mansion today. I found Lumina practicing on the piano, and her aunt was supervising her. She made a small mistake, and her aunt scolded her pretty harshly. I wanted to say something, but I was in no place to. After she was done scolding her, she went to her room leaving Lumina on the Piano. Lumina remained seated on the piano, I saw tears dripping on the keys. I thought I'd cheer her up, so I went up to her.**

**I said hi to her, and she looked back at me with her eyes filled with sad tears. I'm sure that was not the first time the old woman yelled at her. We went out to the garden to talk for a while, she had a lot on her mind. Lumina told me that she is Living in Forget-Me-Not Valley because she lost her parents when she was only 10 years old. She has no other family other than her aunt Romana. Her aunt does care a lot for her, but she expresses it the wrong way. Because she is from a wealthy family, she is expected to be a "perfect young lady". This is quite stressful. Not only for Lumina, but for any young girl too. I can tell that she needs someone to talk to other than the people who live in the Mansion, so I decided to become her friend.**

Flips Page

**_Spring 20, 2000_**

**Carter gave me a part-time job at the excavation site today. We didn't find anything important, but I did get some interesting things he let me keep. Besides some old fossils, I found some copper coins and some moonstones.**

**I went to the bar to have a drink and polish off my findings. After I was done cleaning the coins and crystals, the copper coins shined with a bright luster. The moonstones glimmered with a rainbow light when held up. Muffy noticed what I was doing, and became very interested in the shining objects. I learned that Muffy likes things that are shining and sparkling. I decided to give her a coin that I finished polishing off as a gift. She was very happy at her gift, and promised to cherish it.**

Flips Page

**_Summer 1, 2000_**

**Griffin told me that Muffy's birthday is coming soon. I know that I do not have much money, but I wanted to do something special for her. Because of that, Griffin recommended me to a blacksmith in Mineral Town. He is very skilled, and can make jewelry out of any metals. I decided to pay him a visit.**

**Mineral Town is the next town from Forget-Me-Not Valley. It isn't too far away, but still took a few hours to walk. The Blacksmith called Saibara was very helpful, and even gave me a discount if I gathered the metals on my own. I was taken to the mines where I was able to gather the gold and silver I needed for the job.**

Flips Page

**_Summer 5, 2000_**

**Today is Muffy's birthday. She didn't look very happy. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me that ever since she came to Forget-Me-Not Valley, nobody had celebrated her birthday. I laughed at myself knowing the the perfect idea to cheer her up.**

**I asked Griffin for permission to take Muffy out early. He knew what I had planned, so he allowed it. I took her to the Inn next door, and surprised her with a birthday party. She was so happy, she cried tears of joy. She had a great time at the party.**

**After the party, I escorted her back to the bar. But on the way back, we stopped for a moment and I handed her the gift that I had made back in Mineral Town. She opened the small white box, and inside was a rose shaped broach made of silver and gold. She embraced the gift, and promised that she would take care of it forever.**

Flips Page

**_Summer 12, 2000_**

**It was very late, and I was about to turn in for the day. But I heard a knock on the door, it sounded pretty urgent. I opened the door, and found Muffy standing outside. She appeared terrified for some reason.**

**I let her inside to see what she was upset about. She told me that she was on her way to the Inn to buy some ingredients, but she got the feeling that she was being followed. She didn't want to go back out that night, so she asked if she could spend the night with me. I was nervous about the idea, but I couldn't just turn her away.**

**Before anything happened between us, Griffin came over to the ranch to get her. Apparently, Muffy forgot her purse when she left the bar. Griffin ran after her to give her the purse to buy the ingredients. Muffy heard him running after her, but didn't realize it was him. She got scared, and ran to my house asking for help.**

**When she found out that it was Griffin who scared her, she became very angry. She became red as a tomato, and Griffin braced himself to get slapped. But she just stormed out of the house instead without saying anything. She may be pretty, but she is scary when she's mad. I'm glad that I never make her angry.**

Flips Page

**_Summer 22, 2000_**

**I went to the bar to have a drink after a hard day of work. When I got there, Muffy ran out of the bar. She was very upset about something. Naturally, I wanted to cheer her up. When I asked her what was bothering her, she told me that she broke several dishes in the bar. Griffin was not mad about it, but she still felt bad that she is causing trouble for him. After all, she is living in his home for free, and she had broken dishes several times before. I learned something new about her, she's pretty clumsy.**

**I asked her on a date so that she would have a chance to forget about her troubles. At first, she didn't want to. She said something about only going on dates with boyfriends. But she changed her mind pretty quickly. We got back from our date very late at night, but we enjoyed ourselves. We said our goodbyes, and we kissed for the first time. From now on, we are no longer friends.**

Flips Page

**_Fall 15, 2000_**

**Muffy and I have been gong on many dates since my last entry. Now I'm at the point where I've fallen in love with her. Some time ago, I was able to get a blue feather from some "friends". Takakura told me that I can use the feather to propose to a girl. If she accepts it, we'll be officially engaged to be married. I thought that this was the best time to use it. I love her, and I am willing to make her my wife.**

**But things were not as simple as it seemed. I went to the bar, and told her how I felt about her. Then I offered her the blue feather hoping that she would accept my feelings. She was so happy, she cried tears of joy. But. . . She still said no .She told me a story that when she was younger, she used to be engaged. But the other guy left her for someone else anyway. She never wanted to experience that sort of pain again, so she turned me down.**

**I admit, I am hurt. She is the only girl that I ever loved. And because of her painful memories, I cannot be with her. Even though she turned me down, I need to move on with my life. Maybe I could fall in love with someone else.**

**"That explains why she acted so rash when she saw me with Lumina."** said Trei. He flips the page ad continues reading.

**_Fall 20, 2000_**

**I decided to talk to my good friend Lumina about my problem. She was pretty surprised of the fact that I asked Muffy to marry me in the first place. I asked her why. She told me that she had fallen in love with me. She has been waiting for me to ask her out for some time. I was very surprised to hear that she had feelings for me. I mean, she comes from a wealthy family, and I am just a simple rancher. I would have never guessed that she would have developed feelings for me.**

**I thought about it. I had the blue feather in my back pocket. I thought about asking Lumina to marry me instead. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I did like her, but this feeling I have for her is not the same as the feelings I have for Muffy. I still have Muffy stuck on my mind, and I need to wait a bit longer before I can get over her.**

Flips Page

**_Winter 22, 2000_**

**I decided at the end of the year, I would move out of Forget-Me-Not Valley. I wanted to get that good paying job, and live my life in peace. Raising animals is too tiring, and sometimes I couldn't find the point of living here.**

Flips Page

**_Winter 25, 2000_**

**While I was sleeping, Muffy let herself inside my house. The first thing I remember this morning was hearing her voice as I slept. I thought I was dreaming, there was no way that I could have known that I would be seeing her again. But I opened my eyes, and there she was. I woke up with a jerk, she laughed at me when I did that. She sat next to me, and we talked. She told me about everything that has happened since we last spoke on Fall 15. She had trouble sleeping, eating, and everyone noticed that she was not happy. Just like how depressed I was when she turned me down, she felt the same way. She then admitted her own feelings for me, but she never asked for a second chance. But I still love her, so I took the blue feather and tried again. This time she said yes. We are now officially engaged. We decided to get married on the first day of Spring coming soon.**

Flips Page

**_Winter 30, 2000_**

**We announced to everyone that Muffy and I are about to get married tomorrow. Most of the villagers were very surprised to find out that we were getting hitched. Even though we didn't know each other for too long, I didn't care. I love her, and tomorrow, she'll become my wife.**

**Of all the villagers, Lumina was shocked the most. Even though she was in love with me, I did not take her hand. She is sad about my engagement to Muffy, but she's a strong girl. I'm sure that she'll get over me soon. I do feel bad about making her cry though.**

Flips Page

**_Spring 1, 2001_**

**We said our vows, and exchanged rings at the church in Mineral Town. I was so nervous about the whole thing, but I am sure I made the right choice. Mom and all my friends attended my wedding. Muffy was so beautiful in her wedding dress. She was so happy, nothing could stop her from crying.**

**She moved in with me right away. There was a pretty emotional goodbye between Muffy and Griffin. They are like family after all.**

Flips Page

**_Spring 3, 2001_**

**I heard rumors that you learn a lot of things about your wife after you marry her. I never expected it to happen so soon. Gotz had just finished remodeling our home, and we had a new kitchen installed. I was looking forward to some home cooked meals from now on, but there was a slight problem. Neither Muffy or I knew how to cook! This is a problem, but I know that we can overcome this hurdle together. We both decided to learn how to cook from Ruby at the Inn.**

**As we were learning, Ruby told me that I have a hidden talent for cooking. I was able to learn how to cook very easily and very quickly. However, Muffy was not doing very well in the kitchen. Everything she touched ended up getting burnt or broken. At the end of the lesson, Muffy felt pretty bad about not being able to learn anything today. I tried to comfort her, and tell her that as long as I learn how to cook, everything will be fine. But even so, she decided not to give up until she can learn how to perform her duties as a wife correctly. Me and Ruby decided to teach her together, Ruby can give her classes on Friday, and I'll practice with her on other days.**

Flips Page

**_Spring 15, 2001_**

**Muffy started feeling ill today. I thought it was because she was eating a lot. But just in case, I took her to see Doctor Hardy. He said that Muffy is fine, and I don't have to worry. As we left feeling relieved, he said "Congratulations".**

**At first, I didn't understand what he meant by that. He did stare at Muffy a lot during the visit. But at home, Muffy admitted what the doctor was talking about. Muffy is pregnant!! I am still so shocked that we've been married only a short time, and she is already having a baby.**

Flips Page

**_Summer 17, 2001_**

**Muffy has to take it easy now that she is carrying a baby. I did all the work around the house and the ranch, and I did my best at cooking too. I decided to plant some apple trees in the farm because Muffy's favorite food is apple pie. But because we don't have any apples, and it would take a year for the trees to grow, I decided to make something else for her.**

**Ruby taught me how to make pound cake out of common ingredients I have handy at the ranch. But as I was making the cake, I had some better ideas for ingredients. Instead of normal ingredients, I used rare milk, butter, and eggs. The cows would produce special milk for about 10 days after giving birth. I used some milk from them, and I turned the rest into special butter. Sometimes the eggs from my chickens have a golden color to it, and tastes better than normal eggs.**

**At first taste, Muffy loved it! She then told me that Apple Pie was no longer her favorite food, now it's my pound cake. I felt pretty embarrassed when she told me that my cake is the best. Even Ruby can't make it taste the same way, even if she uses the same exact ingredients.**

**Because Muffy was so happy, I didn't really care about how well can I make the cake. Just seeing her smile makes me the happiest man in the whole world.**

Flips Page

**_Winter 15, 2001_**

**Our daughter was born today. We've officially upgraded from a happy couple to a family. She wanted me to name our little girl. I named her Myo or "Little Muffy". Muffy thought it was a perfect name for her, even though she looks more like me. But it doesn't matter what she looks like, as long as we are happy.**

**This will be the last entry for this diary, but I'll start another one soon. It'll be about our daughter growing up. In closing, I am having a wonderful life, and I hope that things will stay this way forever.**

_Closes Diary_

Trei takes a moment to stare at the diary. He suddenly feels incomplete, like if there is a hole in his heart. He finally understands why did he fall in love with her, but it will be a while until he feels the same way he did in the diary.

**"I don't believe it, I think I'm starting to become just like my father. Muffy isn't perfect, and the man who married her knew that. I never knew that there was another side of her that I fell in love with long ago. Flik is right, all the problems we are having are my fault. But I just keep blaming them on her. I made this stupid wish, and I am making her feel unhappy because of it. I can't let things end this way, I'll have to make it up to her. But how?"**

Trei places the diary on his lap, and thinks hard. **"The only person I could talk to is Griffin, but I'm pretty sure that Muffy is at the bar too. I guess I have no choice, but to use what I've learned in this diary to make things right."**

**To Be Continued.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Happy Birthday**

_Summer 3, 2005 (Friday)_

After taking care of the animals for the day, Trei takes a trip to Mineral Town. Even though he has been to Mineral Town before, this will be the first time going there since he woke up last Spring. The trip to Mineral Town took longer than expected since he is not sure of the way to get there. He needed to ask for directions several times before he arrived.

Muffy and Trei has not yet seen each other since yesterday. He feels that she needs some space before he can talk to her. All he knows that he hopes that his plan works out the way he plans. Not only is his marriage at stake, but also his chance to return home.

Trei has no idea where he is going in Mineral Town. It felt even more complicated than when he first found himself in Forget-Me-Not Valley. Mineral Town is closer to a city than the vast village where he lives. Houses and shops are more crammed together, and villagers can be seen walking around more often.

He tries to look around, but he ends up walking in circles. Walking randomly is not getting him anywhere, so he decides to ask for directions. The first person he finds at that point is an orange haired young man with a cap.

**"Excuse me."** he said to the orange haired man hoping to get some answers. **"I'm sorry to bother you, but do you know how to get to the blacksmith shop?"**

The orange haired stranger turns around and faces him. He smiles as he says, **"Hi there Trei. I should have known that you'd be visiting around this time."**

Trei stares at him awkwardly surprised that he knows his name. **"Err. . . Are you Saibara?"**

The orange haired man laughs, and pats him on the shoulder. **"Of course not! It's me, Grey! Don't tell me that you forgot about me already!?"**

**"Um, no! Of course not."** said Trei with an awkward smile. **"I was just kidding with you."**

Grey starts walking off saying, **"You must be here for a gift for your wife. Come with me, I'll take you to the blacksmith shop."**

The diary only mentioned Saibara, Grey is an unexpected Surprise to Trei. He feels relieved that Grey did not ask any questions about why didn't he know the way to the blacksmith shop. After walking for several minutes, Trei finds himself in front of a shop next to a farm. They walk in to find a very elderly looking man with a huge white beard and green clothing.

The old man smiles and says, **"Why, hello there boy! You're a few days late this year!"**

**"Good afternoon. . . Saibara?"** greeted Trei unsure if the old man was the correct person.

Saibara walks over to the tools labeled _"Jewelry Crafting"_ and says, **"So, I assume that you want another gift for your wife at home, eh?"**

Trei feels relieved that he has found the right person. **"Yes, but I have a special request in mind."**

**"And what may that be?"** asked Saibara.

**"You see, Muffy and I are having some trouble in our relationship lately. I need something special to make it up to her. Especially since none of what happened is her fault."**

**"I see."** said Saibara pacing around the shop thinking about his situation. **"You two are a young couple after all. Disagreements are natural in a marriage. For a case like yours, I recommend a ring. Something to remind her of your everlasting love. Trust me, she'll listen to you."**

**"Great! How much would that cost?"** asked Trei.

**"Rings can be quite expensive. But I'll knock off half the price if you get the gold yourself. I'll just charge the forging fee."**

**"Thanks!"** cheered Trei. But after thinking for a moment, he realizes that he does not know the way to the mines. Asking for directions is not the best idea, but he doesn't have any choice but to do it anyway. His time is very limited after all. **"Can you point me to the directions of the mines?"**

Grey steps in and says, **"I'll take you there. I have to do some mining anyway. Just follow me."**

Before they head out to the mines, they grab hoes to dig in the mines. Trei has never mined since waking up in Forget-Me-Not Valley, so all he can do is hope for the best. Since Grey is with him, he can just follow by example.

They walk through the farm in order to get to the forest behind. Inside the forest, they find a lake next to an open air hot spring. They go underneath a nearby waterfall to find the hidden entrance of the mines. He feels lucky that Grey escorted him, because he would have never found it on his own.

Grey starts tilling the ground looking for ores. As Trei grasps the concept of mining, he starts tilling on the other side. They spend a good five hours digging around. Trei becomes so tired, that he is close to passing out. Just as he is about to give in, he hits a vein of gold. The vein has more than enough gold to make what he needs.

After collecting the gold, Trei decides it is time for him to head back to the shop to have the ring made. Grey decides to stay behind and mine some more. After thanking him for his help, Grey stops Trei.

**"Wait a second! I have something that will help you!"** yelled Grey. He pulls out a small clear crystal from his pocket, and tosses it to Trei. He catches it, and stares at it for a moment. **"It's a diamond. Ask Saibara to make a diamond ring instead of a plain one. After all, diamonds are a girl's best friend!"**

**"A DIAMOND!!"** screamed Trei. **"Why are you just giving me one of these!?"**

**"To tell you the truth, I sometimes argue with my wife to. So I know what you're going through. I had Saibara make a diamond ring for her a while ago, and it made her very happy. Knowing your wife's little hobby, she'll be very happy with it, trust me."**

**"Thank you very much."** bowed Trei. **"You've been so helpful, how can I ever repay you?"**

**"It's no problem. You are our friend after all, and friends help each other."**

Trei feels lucky to have such good friends that he can rely on. When he first arrived in Forget-Me-Not Valley, he didn't know anyone. But Lumina gives him support when he needs it. Now he has Grey and Saibara who are helping him when he needs it the most.

Trei goes back to the shop, and hands over the goods. Saibara nods and assures him that he can make the perfect ring for Muffy. He also says that he needs two days to be able to mold the gold into the ring shape, and cut the diamond. Luckily, it will be done in time for Muffy's birthday.

_Summer 5, 2005 (Sunday)_

At 5:00pm, Grey delivers the ring to the ranch in Forget-Me-Not Valley. The house is completely set for the birthday party. Cooking all the food was hard for Trei, but he followed the recipe book to the best of his abilities. He wanted to ask for help, but he feels that he needed to do this alone. All he needs to do now is to get Muffy back.

We walked into the blue bar. Griffin has a stern face on him, but he is glad that he came to get her. He points him to the back where Muffy sat on the den alone. Muffy is surprised to see him, but hardly happy. She didn't even want to look at him.

**"Hey Muffy, how are you feeling?"** asked Trei. She remained quiet. He starts to feel nervous, he planned on getting her back, but never what to say to her. So he scratches the back of his head and says the first thing that came to mind. **"So, where's Myo?"**

**"She's in my old bedroom playing with her toys."** answers Muffy.

**"Oh, that's nice. She's really cute when she plays with her toys. I could just watch her for hours, and-"**

Muffy interrupts his idle chit chat, and asks, **"So, where have you been for the last few days? Having fun with that rich girl?"**

Trei knows where she is going with this conversation. Instead of making excuses, he takes a deep breath and says, **"I'm sorry about what happened between me and Lumina. I know what it looked like, bit I swear I'm not having an affair. She just tripped, and I caught her."**

Muffy finally looks at him, but with a frighteningly serious face. **"Care to explain why were you with her in the first place. . . Alone?"**

**"Your birthday was coming up, so I needed some advice on a good gift."** he answered.

**"That doesn't make any sense! She doesn't know me, so why would you go to her? Are you telling me you don't know your own wife well enough that you need to rely on other people?"** Muffy turns away again and yells, **"If you are going to lie to me, then just go away!"**

Trei understands why she is acting the way she is. If he was in her shoes, he would most likely react the same way. Telling her the honest truth about traveling 5 years into the future is a bad idea. He thought about telling her the same story that he gave Lumina, but he feels that lying would just make things worse.

But he also knows that he can't just give up on her. He bravely walks up to her and grabs her hand. The same hand where her wedding ring is on. She tries to pull it away, but he is not going to let her go easily.

**"Muffy, listen to me."** said Trei in a calming and brave voice. **"On the first day of Spring, 2001, we made a promise to each other. We both promised that we would love each other forever. Do you remember that promise?"**

Muffy tilts her head down and says, **"Yes, of course I do."**

Trei continues, **"I want to keep that promise. Lumina is just a friend of mine. But I married you, not her. She can never replace you, ever."**

Tears start to drip from Muffy's emerald eyes. As she weeps, she admits, **"Trei, I want to believe you. . . But I can't. Please, just leave me alone."** Old memories of her first heartbreak haunts her mind. She is confused at to what to do, her judgment is clouded. She fears that returning with him would just break her heart eventually.

Trei finally releases her hand. He is about to give up on her. He feels at that moment that he lost her for good, getting her trust back would be impossible. He begins to walk away, but stops from the past memories of his own. Plus what he remembers how he felt in his diary.

**"Muffy, did you know that if I have not married you, I would have never married at all?"** asked Trei.

Muffy gasped at the shock of hearing his confession. She turned back at him and stared at her husband's back. She becomes very curious and asks, **"What did you say? But why?"**

**"Before I met you, I never had a girlfriend or even a girl that I liked. After my parents divorced, I was so hurt that being involved in a relationship of any kind scared me. However, that changed when I met you. I don't know how it happened to tell you the truth. But when we met, we got along so well. Everything happened so suddenly, I fell in love with you so quickly. It was my first time, I even asked you to marry me that fall. But you turned me down.**

**I. . . Had a chance to ask Lumina to marry instead. But I couldn't get you off my mind. I was so torn up, that I wanted to leave the ranch and forget that I was ever in love in the first place. But five days before I left, You came to me. I proposed to you a second time, and you said yes. If I had left, I would have gotten a job in the city like I wanted getting paid well. But if I did, I would have never known what it would be like to be loved by someone. Or to have a family of my own.**

**Muffy, you gave me a life I never would have imagined having. I thought I would be single forever. Then you came into my life and changed all of that."**

Trei turns around and walks back to Muffy. His words comforted her enough to allow him to approach her. Tears continues to fall from her eyes as she watches him walk back to her. As soon as he got close enough, he takes out the small wrapped box from his pocket and gives it to her. She opens the box to find a beautifully crafted golden ring with a brilliant diamond bonded to it. That moment, Muffy is able to finally overcome her old painful memories, and remember why did she fall in love with him. She remembers that he is different, and he will not leave her.

Muffy hold the ring close to her chest and says, **"Trei, I'm sorry. I let my old memories get the best of me, and jumped to the wrong conclusion. How can I call myself your wife if I can't even trust you?"**

**"Please don't take all the blame. This was mostly my fault. I have not been thinking straight either, and I made you upset so many times this year. I promise that I'll start acting more like a husband, and not a stranger."**

Overjoyed, Muffy jumps up and embraces Trei. They share a long tender kiss for the first time without Trei jumping out of the way. Afterwards, Muffy gets Myo, and all three of them returns home. Griffin smiles as he watches them leave as a happy family.

At home, Trei has another surprise just for Muffy. The house is fully decorated from the inside, and lots of fool is prepared to celebrate Muffy's birthday. Touched by Trei's surprise, tears of joy continues to fall from her eyes.

**"Happy birthday Muffy."** said Trei.

Muffy hugs Trei again and says, **"Oh Trei. I'm so glad that I married you. I love you!"**

**To be continued.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Myo**

_Summer 22, 2005 (Thursday)_

The intense heat of the Summer day is really wearing Trei out. He has gotten used to the work in the ranch, but the changes in the weather is brutal. Back in his hometown, he was either used to light work inside climate controlled buildings, or studying in the library where rain or shine does not interfere.

At noon, Trei finishes all the general work with the animals such as feeding, milking, and sheering. Some of the animals needs to be washed, and the crops has to be tended to. However it is lunch time, and he decides to put off the rest of the work until after lunch. Most people would welcome the short break in the middle of work. Trei on the other hand is not looking forward to going home and eating lunch.

**"Lunchtime again. . ."** said Trei. **"I bet Muffy is in the kitchen making something to eat again. I'll give her credit, she does try her best. But she will never learn how to cook properly. She just burns everything, then I have no choice but to eat it. On top of that, I am forced to compliment her and tell her how good she's getting or else she'll bite my head off. And all the dishes she accidentally breaks is really eating a hole at my income. I wish she would let me do the cooking, but she insists that it's a wife's duty to feed the family."**

Trei lets out a huge sigh and continues, **"Well, there is no use crying about it. I might as well get it over with, and get on with the day."**

He places his tools in the shed, and returns home for his daily lunch. But just as she reaches the front door, it opens and Muffy walks out with Myo in her arms. This time she is wearing a green dress with a matching hair band, white shoes and jade earrings. By now, Trei has already memorized all of Muffy's dresses, and when does she wear them. She wears the red dress and blue jacket when she's at home, a blue dress when she goes to parties, black dress for funerals, and green when she's visiting friends. However, this is the first time that he sees Muffy wearing any jewelry other than her wedding ring, so he knows that she's dong something special.

**"You coming Trei?"** asked Muffy unexpectedly.

**"Sure!"** replied Trei. He has no idea where they are going, but he is just happy that Muffy is not cooking. Because Muffy did not cook, he looks forward to eating out at Ruby's Inn after they are done.

As they leave the ranch, Trei asks, **"So, where are we going anyway?"**

**"We are going to Doctor Hardy's office to have Myo evaluated."** said Muffy.

**"Evaluated? For what?"**

**"Don't you remember?"** answered Muffy. **"When Myo was born, we agreed that we would raise a smart child. I've worked real hard to make her as smart as possible, and now we'll see the results of all that work."**

**"I see."** said Trei. He has no memory of that , but since Muffy knows better, he just let her lead the way.

At Doctor Hardy's office, he gave Myo a series of tests to see how intelligent Mo has become. Trei sits in the lounge with Muffy starving, but he remains patient. The thought of having some of Ruby's cooking over his wife's is enough to control his hunger. After several hours of testing, Doctor Hardy finally unveils the long awaited results. However, Muffy is pretty disappointed after hearing them.

**"Average?!"** yelled Muffy.

**"That's right. Myo's intelligence is fairly normal for a three year old child."** answered Doctor Hardy.

**"But I worked so hard. I read Myo a lot of books, played educational games, and everything. Are you sure that she is not at least above average?"**

**"Muffy, please understand that children need a lot of constant attention to be average at best. Only gifted children can really rise ahead of others their own age."** continued Doctor Hardy.

**"But. . . Trei is so smart. Why hasn't Myo inherited his gift?"** asked Muffy.

**"I already spoke to your husband. The reason why he's quite intelligent is because he studied throughout his entire life. He doesn't have a natural gift, but something I would call dedication."**

**"I see. . ."** sighed Muffy.

After they left Doctor Hardy's office, Trei and his family heads over to the Inn where they can finally get something to eat. But no matter how hard he tries to enjoy his meal, Muffy's depression distracts him constantly. All she does is pout while she pokes the meatballs in her spaghetti.

Rather than watching her feeling down, Trei tries to cheer Muffy up. **"You know, I'm sure that even if Myo doesn't have a talent for books and stuff. But she may just pick it up when she's older."** Muffy's mood shows no improvement, so he tries again. **"I'm sure that Myo has other talents. . . And besides, wouldn't it be better if she just takes over the ranch when she grows up? You don't have to be too smart to do that."**

Muffy suddenly drops her fork. Feeling that he made her upset, he backs off. Muffy then yells, **"If we just wanted her to grow up stupid, then we should have decided that when she was born!"** Things became silent for a moment. Muffy calms down after a few minutes, so she picks up her fork and continues to play with her food. She then says, **"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. But I really want our daughter to grow up to be more like you, not me."**

Trei knows where Muffy is going with this. Myo's personality resembles more like Muffy over Trei. Because Trei is far more intelligent than Muffy, she has little confidence in herself. So she always wishes that her daughter had the best of Trei's abilities. Every mother wants the best for their children after all.

_Summer 23, 2005 (Friday)_

The Harvest Sprites no longer need to help Trei around the ranch, so he is left to do the work by himself. Even so, work is still long and boring. Every day feels repetitive to him, feed and milk the cows, feed the birds and collect the eggs, groom and sheer the sheep, and water the crops. He still has no idea how does he can keep up the work for five years, and not bore himself to death.

As he brushes the animals, Myo walks into the barn. She finds her father taking care of Bess and walks up to him. Trei quickly notices her after she tugs his pants. **"Hi daddy."** said Myo with her cute high pitched baby voice.

**"Hi there Myo!"** said Trei feeling happy that she is visiting him in the barn. **"Why are you here, what's mommy doing?"**

**"Brush! Brush!"** yelled Myo pointing at the brush Trei holds in his hand.

Trei holds the brush close to Myo and asks, **"Do you know what this is?"** Myo reaches out for it like if she wants to try brushing the cow. Trei is curious to know what she wants to do with it, so he hands her the brush, and carries her slightly above the cow.

Myo starts to stroke the back of the cow gently with the brush. Based on how gently the cow mooed, Trei feels that the cow is enjoying it. He is amazed that at the young age of three, not only can Myo identify his brush, but she also knows how to use it well.

Trei is curious to learn how much does Myo know about farming and ranching. He carries her to the tool shed where he can test her on how well does she know his tools. The first thing he grabs is a hoe that hangs on the wall. He shows it to her and asks, **"Okay Myo, what's this?"**

**"Ho! Ho!"** yelled Myo. Trei is really impressed at her answer.

**"Now, what do you do with it?"** asked Trei. Myo puts her hands together as if she is holding something. Then she raised her arms over her head, and thrusts down like if she was tilling the ground. She tries to pretend that she's tilling so hard that she falls down. She cries for a moment, but she is fine.

Trei points at other tools in the shed to see what else she knows. Myo is able to identify each and every single tool that he owned, and what they are used for. When he was her age, he barely knew where milk came from. Let alone what each tool is called, and what do they do.

It's getting late, and Trei still has a lot of work to do. So he patted Myo on the head and says, **"Myo, daddy needs to go back to work now. Why don't you go play outside?"**

**"Ok."** said Myo with a finger in her mouth.

They both leave the tool shed, and Myo runs off to find something to play with. Trei checks his watch, it is almost 11:00am, and there is still a lot of work to do. So he goes back to the barn, and continues to brush the cows. All he is able to think about is how amazing he thinks his daughter is.

A few minutes later, he hears some odd commotion coming from outside. He puts his brush away and steps outside to see what is the commotion about. He finds the door to the chicken coop wide open, but no chickens inside. He turns to where he hears the noise, and finds all the chickens running around as fast as they could with Myo behind them.

Trei panics and yells, **"Oh my god, MYO!! Stop chasing the chickens!"**

The clucking of the chickens are so loud that Myo cannot hear her father yell. He has no choice but to run after her and stop her himself. However, it is not as easy as it seems. He runs after her as fast as he can, but he cannot keep up his three year old daughter.

Everyone runs in random circles around the ranch. But no matter how hard he tries, catching up to her is impossible. After about thirty minutes of running, Trei gives up and collapses on the ground gasping for air. Myo notices her father fall, so she goes back to check on him.

**"Daddy?"** said Myo.

Trei took a few moments to catch his breath before answering. He then says, **"That's it, no more cake for you. You have far too much energy."** He then stands up, and patted his clothes down to remove the dirt off his shirt. He then looks at Myo and asks, **"Where on earth did you learn how to run that fast?"**

**"Daddy funny."** answered Myo. Trei knows that she responds that way when she doesn't understand what he is asking.

Trei carries Myo back into the house after collecting the chickens. Since it is close to lunch time, Muffy is already in the kitchen preparing lunch for the family. Trei leaves his daughter in the bedroom to play with her toys. Then he moves into the kitchen where he could talk to his wife about Myo.

**"Hey Muffy, got a moment?"** asked Trei.

Muffy turns around and says, **"Sure, what is it?"**

**"Myo came to my barn earlier. I noticed that she knows what all of my tools are called, and what are they used for. Isn't that amazing?"** bragged Trei.

Muffy nods and says, **"Yes, you did mention that before."** Muffy turns her attention out the window, and look at the rustling trees of the countryside. **"After all, Myo was born in a ranch. Under that condition, it's natural for children to know things like that. But I still wished that Myo is book smart."**

**"Yeah, I guess you're right."** sighed Trei. **"But have you noticed how fast she is!? Even with her short legs, she can keep up with my chickens, and outrun me!"**

**"It doesn't surprise me. When I was younger, I was a real athlete. Back in high school, I was captain of the track team. Myo inherited her athletic ability from me."**

**"The track team?"** asked Trei. He begins to get lost in thought imagining what Muffy must look like as a teenager. Remembering the girls from his high school wearing tight revealing shirts and bloomers, he imagines Muffy in one of them. His face turns red as he says carelessly, **"So cute. . ."**

**"What were you thinking about?"** asked Muffy who is looking deep into his dazed eyes.

Trei snaps out of his deep thought, and notices Muffy staring at him awkwardly. **"Oh nothing. I was just thinking about how you must have looked when you were younger, I swear."**

Muffy frowns and says, **"You're acting strange again."**

Trei takes a deep breath and apologizes to Muffy. Last thing he needs is to have another incident with her. Muffy then walks over to the cabinet, and sorts through some papers. As she searches, she says, **"You do know that Myo has other talents as well, right?"**

**"Really? What else can she do?"**

Muffy grabs a bunch of papers, and hands them to Trei so that he may examine them. They are all fairly well hand drawn pictures. The first picture is of a cow that resembles closely to Bess. The others are of a chicken, a duck, and a sheep. The last picture is a drawing of Myo, Muffy, and Trei standing under a yellow sun.

**"Myo drew these?"** asked Trei. Muffy nods. **"That can't be, she's only three! She should be drawing scribbles at best for her age."**

**"I know, but she has been hanging out at Cody's a lot. I think he has been teaching her art. I didn't know that she is this good until Cody came by last week and gave them to me."**

**"Cody? You mean the big guy who lives in the trailer?"** asked Trei.

**"That's right. I didn't even know she was even going there on her own. I'm not sure how or why, but it looks like Myo's best talent is art."**

Trei continues to look at the pictures. No matter how many times he looks at them, he cannot stop becoming amazed at Myo's incredible talent. When he met his child at the beginning of the year, he felt that she is just a normal child just like anyone else. His opinion about her greatly changed at that moment, and realizes that she is something special.

_Summer 24, 2005 (Saturday)_

Trei stops working in the barn and checks his watch. It is now noon, and it's time for his lunch break. Just like before, he agonizes the thought of going home and eating his wife's awful cooking. However, he finds the courage to step forward and eat her cooking like a man.

However, when he got to the door, Muffy steps out carrying Myo again. She is wearing her green dress like the day before which makes Trei happy. Muffy wants to go out with friends, and Trei thinks that Muffy did not make lunch.

**"I hope you're plan on going with us today."** said Muffy.

**"Oh sure! But, where are we going?"** asked Trei.

**"I have an idea."** answered Muffy. **"If Cody is able to inspire Myo to be an artist, then we need to take her to other places where she can be inspired to be smarter."**

**"That's a great idea!"** said Trei. He really doesn't care about where they are going as long as Muffy is not in the kitchen. He has high hopes for another delicious meal at the Inn again.

**"Oh, I almost forgot."** said Muffy. She points back into the house and says, **"Can you go get the picnic basket basket for me? I thought that it was a good idea if we went on a picnic today, so I packed a lunch."**

Trei's tears of joy turns into tears of sorrow. He is overwhelmed with disappointment as he realizes that Muffy was busy in the kitchen, but she started a little earlier than normal. He sighs, he knows that he has no other choice but to put up with Muffy's cooking again today.

After leaving the farm, Muffy takes a look around deciding where should they go first. Then she asks Trei, **"Okay, who is the smartest person in the Valley?"**

**"Don't you know that Muffy? I thought you've been living here longer than I have?"**

Muffy looks at Trei and says, **"Yes I have, but when I moved here, I have been working at the bar all the time. Not everyone in the Valley drinks, so I never got to know everyone. And when I married you, I became a house wife, so there are still people who live here I don't know too well. You're the social one, you should know everyone by now."**

**"Okay fine, I get it."** Trei thought about his answer for a minute and says, **"What about Daryl? He's a scientist."**

**"You mean the guy who stalks your cows? Are you sure he's a good choice?"** asked Muffy.

**"I don't see why not. He may be a bit odd, but he's pretty much harmless."** answered Trei.

Muffy thinks for a moment. Even though she does agree that he is strange, Daryl has not done anything to upset anybody. So she sighs and asks, **"Where does he live at anyway?"**

Trei takes Muffy to Daryl's lab. Muffy's face turns blue at the sight of his Laboratory. The power generators, open sparks, barbwires, and other questionable objects are enough to make her tremble with fear. Trei doesn't find Daryl's lab dangerous, but rather normal.

**"Well, here we are! Daryl's Lab!"** announced Trei full of confidence. **"Let's go talk to him and see if he can help us."**

**"Forget about it!"** cried Muffy.

Trei looks back at Muffy's sour face and asks, **"What's wrong? I thought you wanted Myo to get smarter?"**

**"Now you listen to me Trei! I'm not letting Myo go anywhere near Daryl's big ugly doom castle! I want Myo to be smarter, not to end up like a guinea pig in an illegal science experiment!"**

**"What experiments are we talking about?"** asked Daryl who is approaching at Muffy from behind.

Muffy turns around nervously unsure if he heard her. **"Daryl, what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?"** she asked trying to act casual.

**"I live here. I have every right to be anywhere near my lab. May I ask why have you two come to my lab?"** asked Daryl.

Muffy grabbed Trei's arm, and drags him back to the ranch. As he is being dragged off, Trei yells, **"We were just passing by! See you later!"**

At the gates of the ranch, Muffy stops to catch her breath. She may be strong, but carrying a three year old child in one arm, and dragging her husband with the other really took a lot out of her.

**"Muffy, you have to watch what you say in public."** scolded Trei.

**"I know."** said Muffy while still catching her breath. **"But that place was so freaky that I couldn't help myself."** After a few moments, she finally is able to breathe normally and get her mind back on her goal. To make Myo smarter. **"So, you know anyone else who might be able to inspire Myo to get smarter?"**

Trei thought for a moment. The only other two people who are very smart in Forget-Me-Not Valley are Carter and Flora who are archaeologists. Without hesitation, he takes Muffy and Myo to the dig site to talk to Carter. Muffy is not happy with the dirty environment of the dig site, but she is tolerant enough to ignore it as long as Myo gets smarter.

**"You want your kid to spend some time with us?"** asked Carter.

**"Yeah, I thought that it would be good for her if she could observe you two at work. She might even learn a few things if she did."** answered Trei.

"Sure thing!" cheered Carter. "She can even help us dig around for clues and old artifacts if she likes. She'll love playing in the dirt like all little children."

Muffy pulls Trei to the side and whispers, **"Are you sure that this is a good idea? This sounds like free child labor more than anything."**

Trei nods in agreement. They walk back to tell him never mind. But before they say anything, Flora steps in and yells, **"Professor Carter, I found something!"**

**"Really? Tell me what you found!"** said Carter full of excitement.

Flora pulls out a human skull from her bag of strange objects. Muffy's face turns blue with fright as soon as she sees it. She screams, and runs out of the dig site carrying Myo with her.

**"What's her problem?"** asked Carter.

**"I guess that she doesn't realize that the shiny stones that I give her usually come from here. She is very superstitious, so things like bones and death scares her."** answered Trei. **"I better go check on her, see you around!"**

Trei leaves the dig site to reunite with Muffy who is shivering outside. Trei put his arm around her which calms Muffy down. She takes a sigh of relief, and Trei asks, **"Are you okay Muffy?"**

**"I'll be fine."** answered Muffy. **"But I am not letting Myo back into that graveyard. It's scary in there, and there might be ghosts and stuff."**

**"I understand."** said Trei.

Trei, Muffy, and Myo all start walking back to the ranch where they could end the day. On the way home, Trei notices that Muffy looks depressed about not finding someone that can inspire Myo to become smarter. He feels that it is his duty to cheer her up.

**"Hey Muffy, why are we going home now? We still haven't eaten lunch yet. We can go to the pond and all three of us can eat your lunch together. What do you say?"** Muffy remains quiet. Trei looks ahead and tries again, **"You know, Lumina is pretty smart too. She may not be a genius, but I'm sure that she can inspire her to be smarter."**

**"The only thing that she can inspire Myo is to play the piano."** said Muffy. She sighs and continues, **"I really want a smart daughter, but it looks like that nobody here can help her out with that."**

Muffy's luck changes when they notice a new family close to their ranch. In the beginning of the year, there was an empty two story house very close to the ranch. Takakura told him that it was built last Winter, but no one had bought it yet. A family of three are now in front of the house; a man in a business suit, a woman in Japanese clothing, and an eight year old girl. There are other people who are bringing their possessions into the house, which means that the new family are moving in. Muffy and Trei look at one another, they feel that it is a good idea to welcome them into the Valley.

Trei and Muffy approaches them. Trei smiles and says, **"Hi. Welcome to Forget-Me-Not Valley." The family notices them, and returns a gentle smile. "My name is Trei, this is my wife Muffy and our daughter Myo."**

Muffy continues, **"We live in the ranch right behind your house. That makes us neighbors."**

The man in the business suit introduces himself, **"Hello, my name is Grant. This is my wife Samantha, and our daughter Kate."**

**"Nice to meet you all."** said Samantha, Grant's wife.

**"Hello, I'm Kate. And I am eight years old!"**

Muffy smiles and says, **"Where did you all move from?"**

Grant answers, **"We used to live in the city not too far from here. But I felt that it would be better if if we lived in a safer community. We heard that this place is a great community to raise children."**

**"I see, so I take it that you're a businessman."** said Trei noticing Grant's clothing.

**"Why yes. I work for a mayor corporation in the city. It's a far commute, but for my family's safety, it's well worth it."**

Muffy places Myo on the ground so that she could meet Kate personally. She gently pushes her to Kate, but she doesn't move far. Kate walks up to Myo and says, **"Hi there! What's your name? How old are you?"**

Myo pulls her finger out of her mouth and says, **"Myo. . . Tree. . ."**

Kate laughs cheerfully and says, **"You talk funny. Wanna go play?!"**

**"Ya! Ya! Play! Play!"** bounced Myo.

Muffy smiles seeing that Myo is getting along with Kate. So she feels like it is a good time to celebrate. So she snatches the picnic basket and says, **"We are about to have a picnic. Would you all like to join us?"**

Trei panics. He feels that it is not a good idea to have them eating her cooking. So Trei says, **"Um, maybe we shouldn't go on that picnic after all. I'm sure that Grant has a lot of work to do, and I really need to finish working on the ranch."**

Muffy looks at Trei with an evil stare and says, **"I'm sure that your work can wait. Unless there is _'another'_ reason why you changed your mind."**

Trei knows that he already lost this argument, so he gives in peacefully. He bows before Grant and says, **"Would your family like to join us for lunch?"**

**"Sure, we'd be glad to."** said Samantha.

They all head to the pond near the great tree behind the ranch. Luckily, Muffy only made sandwiches and cold cuts that requires no cooking. This is the first time that Muffy actually made something that Trei can enjoy. Grant's family are having fun talking with Trei's family. Myo and Kate are also having fun playing around the tree. Since Grant is an intelligent man, Muffy is happy that she now has the inspiration she wants, plus they live so close to the ranch. This is a start of a good and lasting friendship.

**To be continued.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Lumina**

_Fall 2, 2005 (Monday)_

Lumina is in the villa playing on her piano like she usually does. But this time, she is not practicing like she has been for the past several years. Since the beginning of Spring, she has writing a song of her own.

As she plays the song, she writes the final note on the score sheet. She then reviews it one last time, and feels satisfied with her song. She embraces the song close to her chest and says, **"It's finally done. Just in time too."**

_Fall 3, 2005 (Tuesday)_

As Trei does his work around the farm, he is feeling very happy. It's his 27th birthday, his favorite day of the year. At 9:00am, Takakura enters the barn, and finds Trei working. He takes his tools away and says, **"What do you think you're doing? You do know that it's your birthday today right?"** Trei nods. **"Then that means that it's your day off today. Let me take care of the animals, and you go on and spend time with your family."**

After thanking Takakura, Trei leaves the barn animals in his care, and walks home. He stretches his arms, and opens the door to his house where he can relax. But as soon as he walks in, he finds Muffy standing in the middle of the bedroom, still dressed in her night gown.

**"Well good morning sweetheart. And happy birthday!"** said Muffy in a sweet and seductive tone.

Trei covers his eyes and says, **"I'm sorry Muffy, I didn't realize that you were changing. I'll come back later."**

Just as he is about to leave, Muffy runs after him, and grabs his arm pulling him back into the house. She slams the door shut, and locks it. She turns around slowly and gazes into Trei's eyes saying, **"You're not going anywhere birthday boy."**

**"Um, why did you lock the door?"** asked Trei. **"That is not going to stop me from leaving you know."**

**"Oh, it's not meant to stop _YOU_ from leaving. It's to stop other people from coming in. After all, I don't want anyone interrupting our little _'Birthday Party'_."**

Muffy walks to Trei slowly, but Trei steps back. He begins to understand what Muffy is talking about, but he is hardly ready for anything she has in mind. Soon enough, she has him pinned against the wall, but that won't stop Muffy.

**"Um, Muffy. What are you planning?"** asked Trei thoughtlessly.

Muffy grabs Trei's hand, and rubs her slender waist with it. **"What are you talking about, today is your birthday after all. Why don't you unwrap your gift."**

Trei sweats nervously and says, **"Um, I appreciate your offer. But how about you just buy me a tool instead. You know, by sickle is a bit rusty, and I could sure use a new one."**

**"Oh, don't be like that. After all, today is your birthday. I think you deserve a special treat."** flirted Muffy.

Muffy begins to rub her body against his, and stroked her right leg between his. He looked down, and sees the cleavage in her night gown. He is tempted, but it didn't feel right to do it just yet.

Trei puts both of his hands on her shoulders, and pushes her away. He then says, **"You know Muffy, this may not be the best time for this. I have a cramped leg from work, and I also have a slight headache. Yeah, this is definitely a bad time, so let's save this for another day."**

Muffy grows tired and impatient. She picks up Trei, and Throws him on the bed, proving that she is much stronger than she looks. She then hops on the bed, and crawls on him purring like a kitten attempting to turn him on. She fondles his chest, and stares into his nervous eyes hoping that he will get into the mood soon.

Trei looks around and says, **"By the way, where is Myo?"**

**"I dropped her off at Griffin's this morning. I already told you, nobody is going to interrupt our _'special'_ birthday party. It's just you, and me."** said Muffy.

Trei feels trapped. Muffy has planned the day very well, and she intends to get what she wants before the day is over. Her persistence is making Trei even more nervous. The only thing he can do is try to talk her out of it again.

**"Hey Muffy, how about if we save this for later. I can go to the kitchen, and we can have a romantic candle light dinner. What do you say?"**

Muffy caresses Trei's face and says, **"Come on sweetheart. Quit playing shy already. You're acting like if this is our first time. Don't worry, if you're that tired, I'll be very gentle."** Muffy moves her lips closer to Trei's ear and whispers, **"Besides, I have something I want to tell you. I want to have another baby! If we work on it right now, it'll be born my the time my birthday comes around."**

Before Trei says anything else, she locks her lips against his. She doesn't want excuses anymore, she wants results. Trei has no other choice but to force his way out. He pushes her off of him, and jumps out of bed gasping for air. Muffy's kiss didn't allow Trei to breath much.

**"Trei! What is the matter with you?!"** yelled Muffy. **"It's been over half a year since you last touched me! And now you are just throwing me away!"**

**"I'm sorry."** said Trei trying to hide his embarrassed face. **"But things are a little bit complicated right now."**

Muffy looks away and says, **"You don't think I'm attractive anymore, do you?"**

**"Oh Trust me, that is definitely _NOT_ the reason."** said Trei as he holds his nose to stop the bleeding.

**"Then what's wrong!? Please tell me!"** yelled Muffy desperate for an answer.

Before things turn into another marriage disagreement, Trei comes up with a plan. He walks up to Muffy, and holds her hand tenderly. **"Muffy, I would love to have more children with you. But it's still too soon. Myo is a handful right now, and I would rather wait a bit longer to have any more kids. Do you understand?"**

**"But. . ."**

**"Please?"** Deeply staring into her eyes, Muffy couldn't help but to agree.

She takes his hand, and and rubs her face with it saying, **"Okay, I'll wait a bit longer. But please don't make me wait too long."**

Trei pecked her in the lips, and thanks her for understanding. He then unlocks the door and opens it saying, **"I have to go do some shopping now. Van is in town today, and I need to pick up some things. I'll come back later, and we'll have a nice candle light dinner."** He then leaves closing the door behind him.

Even though Muffy had agreed to wait, she still isn't happy. She embraces her pillow tightly, and sheds some tears over it. Even though he is there every day, she still misses his embrace, his attention, and the words _"I love you"_. The simplest things are the things that she wants to feel happy.

Trei leaves the farm, and walks over to where Van has his shop set up. He sees the usual items that Van always carries. He sighs deeply feeling disappointed that he cannot find a suitable apology gift for Muffy.

**"I'll take this please."** said a very familiar voice. Trei looks over to his side to see who's voice does it belongs to, and found Lumina standing next to him picking up medicine for Romana. She looks back at Trei and says, **"Hi there, I knew you'd be here."**

**"Oh hey Lumina. Were you looking for me?"** asked Trei.

She nods cheerfully, then pulls out a package she had hiding from behind her back. She places it in his hands and says, **"Happy birthday Trei. It's a birthday present."**

Curious to know what did Lumina got him, he opens the gift quickly. Inside, he found a group of papers that is sown together in one side, similar to a book without a cover. He flips the pages, but all he can see is musical notes over lines.

**"That you very much Lumina."** said Trei. **"But if I may ask, what is this?"**

**"It's a musical score. I wrote the song, just for you."** Trei closes the book, and takes a look at the cover. on the cover, he notices that the song that Lumina wrote is called, _"Two Good Friends"._

Trei scratches his head and says, **"I'm flattered that you wrote a song for me. But I'm sorry, I can't read musical notes."**

Lumina laughs and says, **"You don't have to. Just bring it to my home, and I'll play it for you any time."**

**"Can you play it for me now?"** asked Trei.

**"Of course I can."** answered Lumina. She then escorts Trei back to the mansion where she can replay the song for Trei on her grand piano. Inside the mansion, she takes the score, and places it on the piano where she can read the notes. She can play the song without reading the notes, but she always plays better when she can see the score.

Lumina begins to play the song. The song is very simple in the first few minutes, she is able to play it using only one hand. Even though Trei likes the tune, it feels a bit sad. The next few minutes replays the first part, but the song is more elaborate and cheerful. Lumina is now using two hands to play the music on the piano instead of one. You can also see a smile on her face as she plays the notes of that part of the song.

But then the song changes during the last several minutes, it becomes depressing again. It's not like the first two parts of the song, in fact, it's completely different. The third part of the song is about as sad as the first part, but kinda different. The first part of the song, Lumina played with only one hand. During the second and third part, she is using two hands to make a very elaborate song. He knows that Lumina is playing in a symbolic manner, but he is not sure how.

The song lasts for a little over nine minutes. After she is done playing, she turns to Trei to see his reaction. Trei claps cheerfully and says, **"Lumina, that was incredible. You actually wrote that yourself?"**

Lumina nods. **"It took me about a half a year to write it, but it was well worth it. I'm glad you like it."**

**"But can I ask you something?"** asked Trei. Lumina looks at him in a curious manner, and nods. **"I noticed that most of the song seemed to be a little sad. Why did you compose it like that?"**

Lumina turns away, and stares at the keys of the piano. She knows that she is going to feel sad to admit, so she tried to hide her face. **"Well, you see. I wrote this song to symbolize our friendship."**

**"How so?"** asked Trei.

**"You see Trei, before we met, I was a very sad and lonely girl. My mother and father died, and I have no other family left other than my aunt. I had no friends either, and auntie always made me practice the piano so that I would be a musician in the future. Don't get me wrong, I love my aunt Romana, but she is not the best company for a young girl. But 8 years after I came to live in Forget-Me-Not Valley, I met you, and you became a very close friend of mine. For the first time since I lived here, I felt happy. I was so happy to have you close to me, that I fell in love with you. I was shy, and never told you how I felt, until it was too late. That happiness didn't last very long, only a year after moving into Forget-Me-Not Valley, you got married to someone else. Even though you and I are still friends, I still started to feel lonely again. I guess I started to feel that way because the dream that you and I could be together forever faded that day you came to the mansion with Muffy, and tell me you were getting married."**

Trei can hear several teardrops fall on the piano keys after Lumina tells her story. Trei feels sad to hear that he has made her feel sadness. But there wasn't anything he could do for her, especially since it was Muffy that The Trei from 5 years ago fell in love with, not Lumina. **"I'm so sorry Lumina."** Trei said unexpectedly.

Lumina wiped the tears from her eyes, and says, **"Please, don't be sorry. I'm just happy that you're happy at least."** Lumina looks at Trei, she is trying her best to hold back the tears, but he can still see them building up in her eyes. **"You should go home now. I'm sure you're family is waiting for you to celebrate your birthday."**

After saying their goodbyes, Trei takes his gift and leaves the Mansion. Lumina sits on the piano looking at the keys, she hits a key and says, **"After all, isn't it sad? A woman like me still in love with a married man. . ."**

Trei walks out of the mansion, and is prepared to leave the villa. But before he leaves the garden, he hears a rustling in the bushes. He goes over to check it out, then a pair of arms suddenly grabs him and pulls him into the brush. Trei looks at the man who has been hiding in the bushes, and sees that it's Rock from the New Years Party. The young blond man who was very interested in Lumina wearing old fashioned 70's clothing.

**"What are you doing!?"** asked Trei.

**"I could ask you the same thing! Isn't today your birthday? Aren't you supposed to be at home with your family?"** asked Rock.

**"What I do is none of your business."** answered Trei. Rock notices something in Trei's hands. He quickly snatches it, and takes a look inside. **"Hey, That's mine! Give it back!"**

**"This is Lumina's handwriting. She wrote a song for you?"** said Rock.

**"Yeah, what of it?"** asked Trei.

Rock looks at Trei angrily and yells, **"You dog! How dare you cheat on your wife! First you got the hottest girl in Forget-Me-Not Valley, but now you're after Lumina as well?"**

**"You idiot! I am not cheating on anybody! Lumina is just a friend and-"** Rock suddenly covers Trei's mouth, and ducks under the bushes to hide pushing Trei down with him. He then looks out to the mansion where he could watch Lumina walk out of the mansion. She brings out a watering can, and starts to water the flowers in the garden of the villa. Rock stares at her with his face blushing.

Trei looks at Rock awkwardly and whispers, **"I get it, you are stalking Lumina. How long have you been playing this sick game?"**

**"Stalking?! I am not stalking I'm-"** Rock suddenly covers his own mouth realizing that he is speaking too loud. Lumina hears a voice in the bushes, so she walks over to check it out. But when she does, she sees nobody.

**"Was it my imagination?"** asked Lumina as she returns to watering the plants. Trei and Rock run out of the woods, and back to the main road in front of the Blue Bar. They try to catch their breath from running as fast as they could to avoid getting caught.

**"That was a close one."** gasped Rock.

**"So, care explaining why were you at the mansion?"** asked Trei.

**"I was not stalking, I was just admiring her from a distance like I always do."**

**"Always do?"** asked Trei.

Rock sighs and says, **"Nobody truly knows how I feel about Lumina. You see, I always liked her ever since she came to live here in Forget-Me-Not valley when we both were 10 years old. I wanted to talk to her, but I always was afraid of her aunt Romana. She's always been a scary old bag. When I found out that she was related to her, I never got close to the mansion, all I can do is watch her from a distance. As we grew up, I've been seeing how much more beautiful she's becoming with little hope of even talking to her."**

**"You're in love with her?"** asked Trei. Rock sighs, and nods. Trei thinks about the situation, and says to himself, **"Hm, Rock may be an odd guy, but he's not so bad. Now that I think about it, just about everyone in Forget-Me-Not Valley is a bit odd. Lumina is always sad because she is always alone. If I can get Lumina to go out with Rock, it may work out to everyone's advantage. Lumina will not be sad anymore, and Rock would not have to watch her in hiding."**

Rock notices Trei thinking, and asks, **"What are you thinking about?"**

Trei places a hand on his arm and says, **"Rock my friend, how about I help you out. If you have feelings for Lumina, I'll help you make her understand those feelings."**

**"You would do that for me?"** asked Rock.

**"Of course I would! Meet me in my house at Friday night, and the lesson will begin!"**

Rock shakes his hand and says, **"I'll be there! Thank you so much Trei, you really are a pal."** He then runs off, and goes home. Trei also return home where he can enjoy the rest of his birthday in peace.

**Fall 6, 2005 (Friday)**

Muffy is at her usual cooking class, and Myo is taking a nap in the bedroom. Rock and Trei are in the kitchen ready to start the lesson on how to flirt with Lumina. Rock is sitting on a chair like a student, while Trei is walking around like a teacher. He looks and Rock and says, **"Okay, here is the first thing I want to ask you. What are Lumina's favorite hobbies."**

**"Let's see. . . She likes to play the piano, reading, and painting."** answers Rock.

**"Mostly right, but not exactly. You see, Lumina only plays the Piano because Romana makes her. She is talented, but that doesn't mean that she actually LIKES to play the piano. The better answer is that she likes music, art, and reading. Now, what are her favorite things?"**

Rock thinks for a moment and says, **"Not entirely sure. Books?"**

**"It's true that she likes books, but I mean what sort of gifts she likes to receive. Like most girls, Lumina likes flowers and crystals. But since she is a refined girl from a noble background, she also likes teas, perfumes, jewelry, and other stuff like that."**

**"Wow, sounds like it's going to be expensive to impress her. My family doesn't make much money, so I guess it'll be impossible for her to like me."**

**"Not quite!"** said Trei. **"Lumina may be from a noble family, but I know for a fact that she is not interested in a guy who is rich or famous, or noble, or anything like that. Lumina just wants a guy who can keep her company. Someone she can talk to when she's feeling sad. Someone she can turn to when she needs help. Someone who will be there by her side."**

**"I see. So, you think there is a chance for her to like a guy like me?"** asked Rock.

**"Boy, this guy doesn't know that she is in love with a man who works in a ranch."** thought Trei to himself. He then clears his throat and says, **"Okay, now the problem we are having is your fear of her aunt Romana. This is what we're going to do. Tomorrow afternoon, we are going to visit Lumina. I'll be there to support you. Make sure you bring a gift for her. She'll open up to you if only you let her."**

Rock stands up, and shakes Trei's hand. **"Thank you, I owe you one. I'll be there tomorrow!"** Rock then leaves, and prepares his plan for the next day where he'll finally get a chance to talk to Lumina.

_Fall 7, 2005 (Saturday)_

Trei finishes his chores quickly, and heads over to the villa to wait for Rock. He waits for a few minutes before seeing Rock climb the hill to the mansion. He smiles as he is heading up the hill, he can barely wait until he can speak to Lumina up close.

As soon as Rock reaches Trei, he says, **"It's about time you got here. Did you bring a gift?"**

**"Sure did."** said Rock. They both go up to the mansion front doors, and knocked on it. Lumina quickly answers the door, and smiles as soon as she sees Trei. She is pretty surprised to see Rock with him, she hardly has any company other than Doctor Hardy and Van.

**"Good afternoon Trei."** she says to Trei. She then looks at Rock and says, **"Hello there Rock, I haven't seen you since New Years."**

Rock blushes, and says nervously, **"Good afternoon Lumina. . . Its fine weather we are having. I have a gift for you!"** He grasps the gift tightly for a moment before revealing it to Lumina. Both Lumina and Trei became very shocked at the fake flowers Rock brought with him.

Lumina leers at the flowers, but feels obligated to accept them anyway. **"Um, thanks for the. . . Plastic flowers."**

**"They'll last longer that way, make sure you put them in water."** said Rock full of confidence.

Trei grabs rock by the collar, and drags him off saying, **"Sorry Lumina, something just came up, and we have to go. See you later!"**

After they are out of sight, Trei releases Rock, and yells, **"What the hell is wrong with you? You can't just give a girl plastic flowers as a gift!"**

**"But they were expensive! Why wouldn't it make a nice gift?"** asked Rock cluelessly.

Trei points at Rock, and yells angrily, **"I thought we already went through this. Lumina may be a noble girl, but that doesn't mean that she wants the most expensive gifts that you can find! It would be a lot better if you would have gotten her REAL flowers, and they are free!"**

**"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'll get her real flowers tomorrow."** said Rock.

**"Forget the gift. Tomorrow, Lumina will be practicing on her piano. She likes it when I stand by and listen to her play. So tomorrow, you will come with me. But here's the plan! Sometime in the middle, I'll disappear leaving you and her all alone. That'll impress her for sure!"**

**"Hey that's a great idea!"** yelled Rock.** "So, same time tomorrow?"**

**"That's right. See you later."** Then they returned to their homes to prepare for Trei's second plan.

_Fall 8, 2005 (Sunday)_

The clock strikes 1:00pm, and Lumina readies her score sheets for another day of practice. But just before she takes a seat in front of her grand piano, she hears a knock on the mansion door. She walks over, and opens the door it to see who it is. She finds Trei and Rock outside again. Lumina is still happy to see Trei, but not as pleased to see Rock after yesterday's gift.

**"Hi there Trei, It's not often that you come over two days in a row."** said Lumina.

**"I had the afternoon off, so I thought I'd come by to you play. I also brought Rock with me, I hope you don't mind."**

Lumina shakes her head and says, **"Of course not. I'm about to start, please come on in!"**

They all walk over to the piano. Lumina sits down, and begins to play. Trei and Rock stand behind her to listen to her. The beautiful melody of the piano sends a calming feeling inside Trei. After a few minutes, he feels that it is a good time to leave Rock and Lumina alone. But just as he is about to leave, he notices that Rock fell asleep!

He shakes him to try to wake him, but the music is keeping him asleep. Out of anger, he stomps on Rocks foot waking him instantly. Rock yells, **"WHAT THE F-"** but before he finishes his sentence, Trei covers his mouth.

Lumina heard Rock yell, so she stops playing and looks back. She looks at Trei covering Rock's mouth and says, **"Is everything okay?"**

Trei sweats nervously and says, **"I'm fine, but Rock says that he feels a bit ill all of the sudden. I'll have to take him home, see you later!"**

**"Bye Trei."** said Lumina as she watches Trei drag rock away, leaving her alone in the mansion.

As soon as they are far enough, Trei yells, **"What is wrong with you? You can't just fall asleep while she's playing!!"**

Rock crosses his arm and says, **"I couldn't help it, I'm not that big of a fan of music."**

Trei becomes angrier and yells, **"Are you kidding me? I thought you liked Lumina! Lumina is a musician, you can't just pick what you like about her, and ignore the things you don't! If you care about her, you'll have to accept and like everything about her!"**

Rock looks away and says, **"Fine, I'll learn to like music, just for her."**

Trei scratches his head and says, **"Man, you are such an idiot! What is it with blonds and stupidity that almost always go together. I feel like I'm talking to a male version of Muffy!"** Trei sighs and tries to calm himself. He then says,** "I'm gong to give you just one more chance, but you better not screw this up!"**

**"Fine, what do I do?"** asked Rock.

**"Tomorrow, you are going to apologize to Lumina for leaving so suddenly. Go to the dig site, and dig up a nice gift for her. And use your common sense this time!"**

Rock agrees, and they both return home again. Muffy notices how aggravated Trei is, but she doesn't bother to ask him what's wrong. She thought that maybe the work is getting to him, so she gives him some space.

_Fall 9, 2005 (Monday)_

In the mansion, Lumina is painting a portrait of a beautiful landscape. She feels that something is missing, but she is not sure what it is. She thought that a small ranch with animals is what it needs. So she dips her brush into the paint, and pictures a ranch with cows and a young married farmer riding a horse in her head. She stops herself right before she touches the canvas and says, **"I'm still thinking about him again."**

She suddenly hears a knock on the door, so she places the paint on the stool, and checks who it is. On the other side of the door, she finds Trei standing outside. This time, he is standing there alone.

**"Good afternoon Trei."** Lumina takes a good look around and says, **"You're all by yourself today?"**

**"Yeah, I guess so."** Trei is smiling on the outside, but he is burning with an angry rage on the inside. Trei says to himself inside his head, **"I can't believe that idiot! Why isn't he here yet? I swear, I'll kill him next time I see him!"**

Lumina steps aside and says, **"Would you like to come inside? I am currently painting, and I could use your help for inspiration."**

**"Lumina!"** says Rock's voice from a distance. She looks out to the distance, and sees him running towards them. All of his clothing are dirty from the dig site, and he is hiding something behind his back. Trei could not believe that he came in that condition, but at least he is glad that he came at all.

Rock runs up to Lumina, and gasps for air. The long run between the dig site and the mansion really took a lot out of him. After catching his breath, he says, **"Lumina, I'm sorry about leaving yesterday. I really liked listening you play the piano. I hope you're not mad."**

Lumina smiles and says, **"Oh no, don't worry about it."**

**"Oh, I brought a gift for you!"** Rock shows Lumina what he got, an ancient skull of a wild animal that he dug up from the dig site. Lumina screams and slams the door on Rock's face.

Trei hits Rock on the top of his head and yells, **"Why the hell did you bring that for?"**

**"But I thought you wanted me to bring something from the dig site. I thought that a fossil would make a good gift."**

**"Crystals you damn fool! Moonstones or sugar ores, not bones!"** Trei knocks on the door and says, **"Lumina, please open the door, we have to talk."** Lumina hesitates to open the door, but since it's Trei calling her, she opens it anyway. Rock already threw away the fossil so that it can not scare her. Trei takes a deep breath and says, **"Lumina, listen to me. I know that Rock has messed up the last couple of days but-"**

**"I have a confession to make!"** interrupted Rock. He knows that Trei was going to tell Lumina that he likes her, but he needs to tell her himself. **"Lumina, I really like you!"**

The confession really shocks Lumina. **"Do you really mean that?"** she asked.

"**Yes I do. Ever since I first saw you when we were kids, I've always liked you. But all I could do is watch you from outside the mansion admiring you. I didn't mean to scare you like I did earlier, but when I think about you, I guess I just can't think straight."** He then takes a deep breath and says, **"I'm sorry I've been bothering you the last couple of days, but I'm too much of a coward to tell you how I feel. Trei has been helping me get over my fears, but all I've been doing is making a fool of myself. If you don't like me I understand, I won't bother you anymore."**

Lumina is touched by Rocks words. She walks up to him, and holds his hand. Rock's face turns red, he is very surprised that Lumina is not angry with him. **"Rock, I wish you would have told me how you feel sooner. Because to tell you the truth, I like you too."**

**"You do?"** asked Rock.

Lumina nods and says, **"You only come over for New Years but you always make the party just a little bit more fun. You like telling jokes that make people laugh. You're goofy, a little air-headed, and you wear old fashioned clothes. But it's those things that make me smile. But I always thought you didn't like me at all, so I never said anything."**

Rock smiles cheerfully and asks, **"Lumina, you want to go out with me sometime?"**

**"Sure! How's this Friday sound? I'm not practicing the piano that day, so I'll have time to go somewhere."**

Trei has no idea how it happened, but the mission to get Rock and Lumina together is a complete success. He has skipped five whole years, so he does not remember how it feels to fall in love. But seeing Lumina and Rock reveal hidden feelings for one another makes him feel warm and tingly inside. So he returns home to his wife and child.

Muffy is cooking dinner as he arrives home. Myo is in the bedroom playing with her toys. As Trei watches her try her hardest to cook something that will not burn, Trei thought, **"I wonder how it felt when Muffy and I were still single, and going out on dates?"**

Muffy notices Trei standing behind her, and asks, **"Trei, is anything wrong?"**

**"No, not really."** answered Trei. **"But I want to ask you something. Do you want to go on a date with me? We can leave Myo with Griffin for the night."**

Muffy is not sure why does he want to go on a date with her, especially since they are already married. But she says, **"Sure, why not?"**

**To be continued.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**A Message Across Time**

_Fall 27, 2005 (Thursday)_

Things has been quiet and uneventful for a few days. Trei and Muffy went on their date, but nothing special happened. They have been living together for so long that learning something new about each other in a date is not possible. Lumina and Rock has gone on two dates, and things are going well between them. With Rock's goofy personality, he is able to make Lumina smile and laugh very often and helps her forget about all he troubles.

Fall is ending soon, and the days are getting colder. Trei is at home lighting the fireplace to keep the family warm. Muffy is in the kitchen with Myo, she is trying her best to cook dinner while Myo is drawing. Just as he finishes placing the last log of the day in the fireplace, Muffy bursts in the bedroom carrying Myo with an excited look on her face.

**"Trei, Look at what Myo can do!"** Trei looks over at them to see what's all the fuss about. **"Myo, go ahead and tell daddy the colors of the rainbow."**

**"Blue, red, yellow, green, purple, orange!"** yelled Myo.

Trei smiles and says, **"Wow, she said that perfectly. Did you teach her that Muffy?"**

Muffy shakes her head no and says, **"I think she learned that from Cody. She is getting so smart these days!"**

Trei walks up to Myo and pats her in the head. Myo laughs as Trei says, **"Myo may not be book smart. But when it comes to art, she's a genius!"**

Muffy hugs Myo and says, **"I'm so proud of her. If only Pete was here with us, it would be-"** Muffy stops herself after seeing Trei's hurtful face from hearing his father's name. She sighs and continues, **"Sorry about that. I know how you get when you hear about your father."**

**"If you know how I feel about it, then why did you say it?"** asked Trei.

**"It just came out. I was so excited about Myo, I wasn't thinking about what I was saying."** Trei turns around, and begins to walk out of the house. **"Where are you going?"** asked Muffy.

**"I'm going to the bar for a while. I'll be back later."** answered Trei. He then leaves and closes the door behind him.

Muffy just stood there in the bedroom holding Myo. **"There goes your father. He'll never change I guess."** said Muffy. She then looks at her daughter and bounces her up and down saying, **"Doesn't he realize that we met and got married because of his father?"**

_Fall 28, 2005 (Friday)_

Trei carries home enough wood to keep the family warm for the day. He drops them next to the fireplace, and begins to place a few logs in. After lighting the wood, Muffy walks out of the kitchen dressed in her usual clothes she uses to visit friends.

**"I'm heading out to my cooking class. Make sure Myo stays out of trouble."** said Muffy. Trei nods and then she leaves.

After standing up and stretching his back, Trei hears Myo cry in the kitchen. He goes over to her to see what is wrong. He finds Myo sitting in front of the refrigerator crying her eyes out in the kitchen. Trei carries her, and sits her on the table. **"What's wrong Myo? Why are you crying?"** asked Trei. Myo then points at the refrigerator implying that she is hungry. But she is far too short to open it herself.

Because he has been living with Myo and Muffy for quite some time, he already memorized the needs of his family. So he goes over to the refrigerator and pulls out bread, cheese, ham, and mayonnaise. He then makes a sandwich for Myo to ease her hunger. After feeding her, Trei leaves her in the kitchen to eat in peace.

Trei then walks outside to get a little bit of the fresh cool Fall air. It doesn't take long before he notices something unusual happening. He looks over to the fields where he grows trees, and sees his dog digging a deep hole there. At first, he thinks that it's trying to bury bones like in the cartoons, but then he notices that the dog doesn't have any bones with him.

He walks over to the dog and says, **"Hey boy! What are you doing? Did you find something?"** Not too long after he says that, the dog starts to scratch something unusual buried in the field. Trei takes a look in the hole, and sees a wooden box in the hole.

Excited that his dog might have discovered treasure, he runs over to the shed to grab his best hoe. He then uses it to dig the wooden box out of the ground. When he picks it up, he notices that the box is very light, so there is no gold in it. But when he shakes it, he can hear papers rustling inside. He assumes that there's cash money inside.

There is no lock, but the latch is so rusted that he couldn't open the box. He uses the hoe to break the latch, and open the box. His excitement turns to disappointment when he only finds a bunch of envelopes used to send letters. He takes one out, but he can't read anything written on it. Bad weather has worn and smudged the handwriting beyond legibility.

Trei takes the box into the house, and begins to open the small white envelopes. Each one has a letter in it, but all of them were too worn and smudged to read. So one by one, he begins throwing the letters in the fireplace thinking that they are worthless. However, as he reaches into the box for more letters, he finds something else inside the box. A plastic bag with a video cassette inside.

The video cassette is still in good condition protected by the plastic sealed bag. But the front of the tape has no label on it, so he cannot tell what is in it. He then looks over at his television set. Since he woke up in Forget-Me-Not Valley, he has not watched anything decent. The television only took reception from three channels. He has a VCR, but no cassettes to play in it.

He looks at the video cassette, and feels that it would be a good idea to watch whatever that's in it. Just then, Myo finishes her sandwich and heads over to the bedroom where she found her father looking at the video cassette. She walks up to him and asks, "Daddy, what tat?"

Trei looks down at Myo and says, **"It's a movie. You want to watch it with me?"**

**"Yay! Yay! Moobie! Moobie!"** cheered Myo jumping up and down. Trei just smiles at Myo acting so cute and carefree.

First, he throws the rest of the letters in the fireplace. Trei then turns on the television, and inserts the video cassette into the VCR. Finally, he sits on the bed, and sits Myo on his lap waiting for the video to begin. After a few seconds, they finally see something on the TV. But it's not a movie like Trei believed it to be. It's a video recording that someone left behind in the ranch.

The first thing they see is a huge empty lot on the television. On the lower right corner, they can see a date that the recording was made. The date says Spring 5, 1986. As the camera pans over the empty lot, a familiar person comes into view of the camera.

The man turns to to the camera exposing his face. Trei looks hard at the television screen before yelling the word, **"Dad!?"**

Even though Trei hasn't seen his father's face in years, he still recognizes it easily. Especially since he has grown to look a lot like him. The same face, same eyes, same messy spiky hair. The only difference between them is the mustache his father has in the video.

**"So, this is the plot where we will build the ranch?"** asked Pete.

**"I think it's good."** said a voice that resembles Takakura's. However, he cannot be seen in the video. So Trei assumes that he is the one holding the video camera taking the recording. **"The land here is very fertile, and has not been used in a very long time. I'm sure it has a lot of potential."**

**"It looks the same as I remember it."** said Pete

**"Excuse me?"** asked Takakura

Pete laughs nervously and says, **"I meant to say, like I've always imagined it."** He walks up to the middle of the plot, and grabs a handful of dirt. "Yes, I can build a pasture here. This is good for growing grass to feed the cows." He then points over to the north west corner and says, **"I'll build a nice home over there, and make several plots of land used for growing crops on the side."**

Pete continues to walk around making plans for the ranch that he will build. **"I also checked out the community. It's still small, but everyone is nice and welcoming. I only wish that my wife and son would come live with me."**

**"Wife?"** asked Takakura's voice. **"I thought you had a divorce? Doesn't that mean that she isn't your wife anymore?"**

Pete looks at the camera and says, **"We didn't have a divorce because we didn't love each other anymore. But it's always been my dream to own a ranch since I was a child. Sarah doesn't want to live in the country, so she let me go live my dream. I just wanted her to be a free woman to do whatever she wants. She did promise to take care of my son while I work out here."**

**"I see."** said Takakura.

Pete then continues, **"Well, might as well turn that camera off. We have to start looking for part time jobs to pay for materials for the ranch."**

The picture cuts off suddenly. Trei begins to feel angry seeing that his father left to build the ranch, and not feel the least bit guilty about it. A few moments later, the picture returns. This time, Pete is wearing farming clothes and his face is covered in dirt. He is working in a farm planting crops in a field. The date in the corner is now _Summer 5, 1987_. A little bit over a year after the last recording.

**"How is the job coming?"** said Takakura's voice, obviously still holding the camera.

Pete looks at the camera and says, **"As you can see, I got a job at Vesta's farm. She's a real slave driver, but her pay is decent. And I've been learning how to care for crops here in this farm. It's pretty convenient when you think about it, good pay and free training."** Pete continues to work and says, **"So, how is your job coming along Takakura?"**

**"I've been going to Mineral Town for work. There's this guy named Barley there who owns a ranch who needed help. The pay is not too bad, but I've been learning how to care for cows and other animals. I guess in a way, it's just like your job, but I deal with animals instead. Did you know that you cannot get milk from cows unless they give birth every 40 days?"**

**"Wow, that's pretty interesting. I'll have to keep that in mind when we have the farm built. So far, we don't have enough materials to even start building anything. But little by little, we'll make enough to have everything we need."** said Pete.

**"Pete!"** yelled Vesta's voice. The camera points to Vesta who is walking to Pete's direction. Trei has always known Vesta to be a huge scary woman, but in the video she is much slimmer and somewhat attractive. The years has changed her from what she used to be, to what she is now.

**"Yes Vesta! What can I do for you?"** asked Pete.

**"I brought you a little helper. She will be staying in the farm from now on."** The camera points down to reveal a little brunette girl hiding behind Vesta's legs.

**"You mean her? But isn't she far too young to be working on a farm?"** asked Pete.

**"I am not asking you to make her do anything rough. Just small little tasks like passing you seeds, and helping with the harvest. I'm sure she can handle that."** answered Vesta.

**"I see."** Vesta then pushed the little girl to Pete so that she can introduce herself. But she is so shy, that she just looks at him, and says nothing. Pete just pats her in the head and says, **"Hi there little cutie. My name is Pete, what's your name?"**

**". . . Celia."** she said nervously.

**"Celia huh?"** continues Pete. **"That's a very pretty name. Tell me, how old are you?"**

**"Eight."** said Celia.

**"Wow, eight years old? You're the same age as my son. Let me ask you, would you like to be my son's wife when you grow up. I'm hoping that he will come live at my ranch when he grows up."** said Pete.

Vesta pulls Celia away and says, **"Don't get any funny ideas old man. I already have someone for her when she grows up, so she's already taken."**

**"I see."** said Pete. He then looks down at Celia again and continues, **"But even so, what she wants to do when she grows up is up to her. So there's still a chance that my son will end up with a cute girl like her. Am I right Celia?"**

Celia just nods nervously barely understanding what he means. Vesta the notices Takakura holding the camera and yells, **"What is this!? A movie set!? There are no visitors in the farm except for customers! Get out of here old man, and let Pete do his work in peace!"**

The picture cuts off suddenly once again. Trei is surprised that how his father acted in that part of the video. He was working hard, but already made plans for him to live with him before the farm was even close to built. Trei becomes even more curious about his father's life, so he continues to watch the video.

The picture returns. This time, Pete is inside Romana's Mansion dressed in a butler's uniform. His hair is now well groomed, and no signs of dirt or sweat. The date on the corner of the video is _Fall 9, 1992_. About five years after the last recording.

Pete is cleaning a table in the mansion when the video started. The Takakura says from behind the camera, **"Hey there Pete! Smile for the camera!"**

Pete then turns around and smiles. He says, **"Wow, I forgot all about that thing! It's been a few years since the last entry of the video journal."**

**"Tell us, what happened to your old job?"** asked Takakura.

**"Well, Vesta's brother Marlin came to live in Forget-Me-Not Valley. So Vesta didn't need me anymore."** answered Pete. **"But it's okay. This job as a butler pays way better, it's much easier, and I already know everything there is to know about farming. So, how is the job in Mineral Town?"**

Takakura says, **"It's going great. I already arranged a contract with Mineral Town to sell goods to the shipper there. But the condition was that I would have to deliver the goods myself."**

**"I see.**" said Pete. **"Well, since this job pays so well, I've been getting money to buy materials at a pretty good pace. In a few more seasons, I can start building our houses and a barn. I already have plans drawn out for them, so everything is going to be fine."**

**"What do you do here in the mansion?"** asked Takakura.

**"Well, I do clean and help cook. But the reason I even got this job last Spring is because the little princess came to live here. So it's my job to take care of all her needs."** answered Pete.

**"Little Princess?"** asked Takakura.

**"Pete, what are you doing?"** said the voice of a young girl. The camera moves a very familiar looking girl. At first, Trei didn't recognize her with the white shirt, jeans, and pink sneakers. But the hair band, and bandanna tied around her neck gives her away.

**"Well, if it isn't the little princess herself!"** cheered Pete.

The girl looks at Pete with an annoyed look on his face and says, **"Pete, I thought I told you not to call me 'Little Princess'. My name is Lumina."**

Pete laughs and says, **"Sorry about that."** He walks up to Lumina and pats her on the head. **"How was Piano practice?"**

Lumina says, **"I made a lot of mistakes, but grandma says I am getting better."**

**"Grandma?"** asked Pete. **"I thought she is your aunt?"**

**"Grandma hates it when I call her auntie. So I call her grandma."** answered Lumina. She the looks at the camera and asks, **"Are you making a movie?"**

**"Not really."** answered Pete. **"It's a video journal, I'm hoping that one day my son will see it."**

**"You have a son?"** asked Lumina.

**"Yeah why don't you smile for the camera?"** said Pete. Lumina forces a smile, and even made a peace sign with her hand. Pete then asks, **"By the way Lumina, how old are you again?"**

**"I'm ten years old. Did you forget?"** answered Lumina.

**"Hmm, you're three years younger than my son, but I think it'll be okay. So Lumina, would you like to be my son's wife when you grow up?"**

**"Me?"** Lumina then thinks for a moment and asks, **"Is he like a prince charming from my books?"**

Pete laughs again and says, **"Well, he may not be a prince, but I'm sure that he'll be very charming when he comes to live here. So, what do you say?"**

**"Hmm, I don't know. . ."** said Lumina.

**"Peter!"** yelled another voice. The camera moves to Sebastian who is walking towards Pete. Trei can't help but laugh seeing that Sebastian's hair was not pale gray back in those days.

**"Hi there Sebastian."** said Pete. **"But my name is Pete, not Peter."**

**"Oh, sorry about that. But I need your help in the kitchen."** said Sebastian.

**"Sure thing!"** said Pete. He then looks at the camera and says, **"I have to go back to work now. Shut the camera off."**

The picture cuts off for the third time. The picture returns a few moments later with Pete sitting on top of the house nailing some boards to the roof. The date on the video says _Summer 10, 1993_. Not too long after the last video. By the way things looks, Pete has already started building the house that Trei currently lives in.

**"Hey there Pete!"** Yelled Takakura who is once again behind the camera.

Pete looks down and yells, **"Takakura, it's been a while! The old man finally gave you some time off?"**

**"Just a few days!"** yelled Takakura.

Pete then puts his tools away, and jumps off the roof landing on the soft dirt safely. He then says, **"Take a look, how is it coming out?"**

**"Isn't it rather small?"** asked Takakura.** "I mean, it's big enough for you to live in comfortably, but what about your son? Isn't he going to be living here too?"**

**"Thats right. But this house will be easily remodeled after it's done. That way, I can save time on construction, and get the ranch done sooner. As the family gets bigger, the house will grow bigger as well."**

**"What do you mean by bigger family?"** asked Takakura.

Pete turns to the incomplete house and says, **"I want this ranch to be family owned. When my son comes to live here, he'll meet a lovely lady to spend his life with. Then he will have a son or daughter of his own, and the ranch will be passed down from generation to generation. That is my greatest dream."**

**"Have you been keeping contact with your son?"** asked Takakura.

**"There are no phones in Forget-Me-Not Valley, so there is no way I can speak to him without leaving the valley. The only way I can contact him is through mail, but I have no time to write any letters. The last seven years I've been here has been morning-noon-to night non-stop work. And since I've started to build the farm, I have even less time. I have been sending Sarah money to help care for my son, I only hope that it's enough for him to live comfortably."**

Pete looks at the camera and continues, **"Since you're here, why not give me a hand? It would be nice to get a little ahead and finish quickly."**

The picture cuts off again. Trei begins to think about his father for a moment before the next recording starts. Even though his father had a reason why he didn't make contact with him in the early years, he still didn't write any letters after the farm was built. Curiously, he continues to watch the video.

The picture starts again. This time, he finds his father sitting inside the Blue Bar having a drink. The date on the camera says _Winter 7, 1995_. Trei can see a slight sadness in his eyes as he drinks. Griffin is also in the bar cleaning out mugs. The window is dark, so the recording was taken at night. Unlike before, Takakura remains quiet taking the recording without Pete knowing.

Pete takes a long swig of the drink before slamming the mug on the table demanding for more. Griffin tops him off, and Pete continues to drink. Griffin looks at him curiously and asks, **"Is anything the matter my friend? You've been drinking a lot today."**

**"Nonsense!"** yelled Pete in a half drunken expression. **"Everything is just fine. The farm is built, My son is now a teenager in high school, I have plenty of friends. What could possibly be wrong?"**

**"I just asked because you look like you're stressed."** commented Griffin.

Suddenly, a young woman comes out of the back. Trei is able to recognize quickly that she is Muffy, but younger than he remembers her. Nothing much has changed about her except that her hair is a little bit shorter than it is now. She still wears the red dress and the blue jacket with the black shoes and hair band.

**"Is everything okay here Griffin? Do you need my help with anything?"** asked Muffy.

Griffin and Pete looks at her, and they smile. Griffin then says, **"We're fine today. You can take the night off Muffy."**

**"Are you sure?"** asked Muffy. Griffin nods.** "Okay I'll just go to sleep early then. Good night!"**

Muffy then goes to the back leaving the men to socialize. Pete then looks at Griffin and says, **"That's a very pretty woman you have living here. If I was you, I would put a ring around that finger before my son comes around and takes her away."** Pete than laughs and says,** "Imagine that. She is quite a few years older than my son, and one day she'll become his wife. I bet you'll be pretty upset about that!"**

**"Not exactly."** said Griffin. Pete looks at him awkwardly curious to know what he meant. **"You see, I do love Muffy. But I care about her like if she was a member of my own family. Like the daughter I never had, I could never love her as a woman. If she one day falls in love with your son, I would give her my full support. After all, isn't that what fathers are supposed to do?"**

Amazed at Griffin's words of wisdom, he looks down sadly and sighs. He takes another swig of his drink and begins to cry. Griffin looks at him and says, **"Hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying Pete?"**

He weeps for a moment then admits, **"It's my son. He's not coming to live here like I planned. He hates me."**

**"He does? How do you know?"** asked Griffin.

**"I received a letter from Sarah last year in Fall. My farm was almost finished, and I couldn't leave to celebrate my son's birthday. Ever since then, my son has been getting angry every time he hears the word 'father'. And as the letters from Sarah keep coming, it's only getting worse. I'm a failure as a father."**

**"Hey take it easy."** comforted Griffin. **"Maybe it's not too late, why don't you sent him a letter tomorrow?"**

**"I can't."** said Pete. **"I'm afraid of how will he react. I want to send him something to let him know that I care about him. Something to tell him that I've been thinking and talking about him all the time. But every time I do write something, I don't have the courage to send the letters. Not only am I a failure, but I'm also a coward."**

Pete finishes the drink, and slams it on the table yelling, **"Give me more! I need to drown my agony so that I can work on the ranch tomorrow."**

**"I think you had enough to drink today. That was your 12th mug after all."** said Griffin.

Pete stands up feeling annoyed and yells, **"Bah! I don't need your liquor! I have more than enough wine at home! And when I'm done, I can get more from Mineral Town tomorrow! I'm going home!"**

Peter notices the camera on the way out and yells, **"Why did you bring that here?! There is no point to having it anymore! Shut that damn thing off!"**

The picture cuts off once again. Trei never knew before, but his anger was making his father miserable. He feels sorry for him, he always though that his father never cared about him. Because there was no communication since he was 7 years old, there was no way for Trei to know how his father really felt about him.

The picture comes on again. Pete is at home looking straight at the Camera. But this time, nobody was holding it. Pete looked very ill as well. He has aged incredibly, became very thin and frail. Most of his hair has also lost color. The date on the video said **Winter 25, 1999**. Only days before Trei found out that Pete died. Judging by the date, Pete died shortly after the video was complete.

**"Hello Trei, my son."** said Pete. **"If you are watching this video, I have already passed on to the next life. Since you hate your own father, I truly doubt that you've taken over my ranch. But even so, how are things? Sarah told me that you are growing to be a very intelligent young man You are graduating college in only a few days. I wish I could have been there, but I am in no condition to travel."**

Pete sighs and continues, **"I wonder what sort of life have you chosen for yourself? I wonder how old are you when you get this video? Have you gotten married yet? Have you ever had a son or daughter yet? I wonder what happened to my ranch after I am gone. I can only hope that Takakura sold it to a more worthy man than I ever was. Maybe he has a good family that he cares about."**

Pete pauses for a moment to wipe the tears from his face. He is trying his hardest not to cry, but he just couldn't help himself. **"Son, I just wanted to tell you how proud I am that you are living your own life. And I also need to tell you, that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that I left you behind. If I can do it all over, I would have stayed at home with your mother. I'm sorry that I missed everything that was most important to you. I would never ask you to forgive me, but I still want to say that. . . I'm sorry."**

Trei begins to shed tears of sadness. His body trembles feeling sorry that he has put his father through so much agony. He could not control himself.

After Pete is able to calm down in the video, he concludes, **"Son, I know I was never a good father, or a good example. but please let me give you a single piece of father to son advice. Whatever that happens, please don't ever do the same mistake I did. If you're married, stay by your wife. And always support any children that you may have. Family always comes first. Goodbye son, I love you."**

**"Dad!!"** screamed Trei as the picture cuts for the last time. Trei embraces Myo tightly promising that he will never leave her side. Myo does not understand what he's feeling, but she enjoys the warm strong embrace from her father anyway.

Trei stands up and walks over to the VCR, and removes the cassette. He then notices a note on the back of the tape saying, "When found, please send to my son." The address is written below his father's handwriting. Finally, he looks over to all the burning letters that he threw in the fireplace carelessly. They were all unsent letters that his father was too afraid to send.

Just then, Muffy walks into the house announcing, **"Trei, I'm home!"**

Trei then looks at Muffy with his face completely soaked in tears. She runs up to him, and wiped his face dry with a handkerchief she had in per pocket. She then asks, **"Trei, what happened? Why are you so upset?"**

**"Muffy, you knew my father, didn't you?"** asked Trei.

Muffy looks at him awkwardly and answers, **"Of course I did. He used to ask me a lot if I would like to be your wife someday. I never imagined that we would fall in love and get married. But then he started drinking like crazy, and his liver went bad. I'm sure that wherever he is, he would be proud of you. After all, he always talked about you every single day."**

Trei begins to cry uncontrollably. Muffy embraces him stroking his hair trying her best to comfort his husband. Trei then says, **"It's all my fault isn't it? Dad died because I made him so miserable."**

**"It's not your fault sweetheart. Even though you always said that you hated him, the truth is that you've missed him all those years."** Trei continues to cry tears of sorrow on Muffy's arms. For the first time in a very long time, Trei is grieving for the father that he lost far before he died.

To be continued.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**The Value of Family**

_Winter 12, 2005 (Friday)_

The days of Winter are cold. But to Trei, they are not as cold as the Winter days in the city. The snow has fallen covering the ground in several inches of snow, and the days are shorter. The work in the farm would be a bit more bearable if Trei didn't have to work outside. Keeping the animals warm in the barn is also another challenge he must overcome to avoid the animals getting sick.

That evening, the snow is falling heavily. Trei is in the barns trying to keep the animals warm and well fed. Muffy is busy cleaning up the house. Myo is sitting in the bedroom with her art pad drawing something for her parents. After she is done, she picks up her drawing, and takes a good look at it. She is satisfied at what she drew, and she now wants to show her parents.

Myo walks into the kitchen where Muffy is drying some dishes she had recently cleaned. She tugs on her skirt to grab her attention, and raises her drawing in the air saying, **"Mommy! Mommy! Look! Look!"**

Muffy looks down at Myo jumping around with her drawing smiling cheerfully. She smiles, then kneels down patting her on the head saying, **"That's very nice sweetheart. But mommy is too busy right now to play with you. Why don't you wait for daddy to come home?"**

**"Ok."** said Myo in a sad tone. She then returns to the bedroom where she sits and waits. It only takes her a few minutes before she becomes bored of waiting. So instead, she pushes a stool to the front door, and opens it to visit her father who is in the barn.

Myo may be small, but she still can walk through the snow with minimal difficulty. She uses the side door to get into the barn, and finds her father placing some feed into the bins of food for the animals. She walks up to him carrying the art pad in her hands, and tugs on his pants to grab his attention.

Trei looks down at Myo who is once again jumping around with her art pad yelling, **"Daddy! Daddy! Look! Look!"**

Trei smiles and kneels down patting on her head. He then tells her, **"What are you doing here little Myo? It's cold outside, and you might catch a cold."**

Myo then pouts and yells, **"But daddy! Look! Look!"**

**"Sorry Myo, but I don't have time to appreciate your art right now. I have to feed the animals, put blankets on them, clean the barn, and a few other things. When I'm done, I'll look at it all you want. Okay?"**

**"Ok."** said Myo with a sad tone again.

Trei rubs her on the head and continues, **"Why don't you go home, and watch some cartoons. I'll be home in an hour or two."**

Myo nods and walks out of the barn. On the way to the house, she stops walking and thinks for a moment. **"Daddy no pway wit me. Mommy no pway wit me. So borin. Maybe I go play wit uncle Cody!"** She then turns around, and walks out of the ranch to go pay a visit to Cody's trailer.

A little over an hour later, Trei is finally done with his work. The night sky is pitch black, and the only light he can see is to the house. The winds has picked up, and snow is falling a bit heavier. The air is getting colder which gives Trei the idea that a snowstorm may be in it's way to Forget-Me-Not Valley.

The walk home is short, so he is not worried about catching a cold. But as soon as he walks up to the house, Muffy bursts out with a worried look on her face. She looks at him and yells frantically, **"Trei, have you seen Myo?!"**

**"I saw her about an hour ago in the barn. I asked her to go home."** answered Trei trying to calm Muffy down.

**"She's not here! I've been looking for her for a while, but she's not in the house! I think she ran off by herself out of the ranch! Trei, we have to go look for her! The weather is getting pretty bad, and she might hey hurt out there!"**

Trei places his hands on Muffy's shoulders and says, **"Don't worry, if she's outside, then all we need to do is follow her tracks."** But then Trei turns around and finds that the snow has already covered any traces of Myo's footprints. This makes Muffy even more worried than before.

Without thinking, Muffy starts to run off to look for her. Trei then yells, **"Muffy, where are you going?! Let me go look for her, and you wait here in case she comes home!"**

Muffy turns around and yells, **"I am not going to stay home and wait! I am going to go look for her too!"** She then runs off calling Myo's name. Trei leaves the door unlocked in case Myo comes home before they find her. Trei then runs out of the ranch to look for her to the opposite side of the valley where Muffy is searching.

Trei runs over to the bar, and Grant's home asking if they have seen Myo. But the weather is so bad that they cannot see outside their windows. Muffy is at Vesta's farm asking them is they have seen Myo, but no luck there either. Trei then searches by the lake close to the beach, but he doesn't find her. Muffy is looking around the field close to Vesta's farm. She asks Galen if he has seen her, but Galen has not noticed anyone walking through the snow.

Trei is doing fine out in the cold. But Muffy on the other hand isn't. She rushed out so quickly, that she forgot to wear something warm. Her skirt is far too short, and she has very little sleeves to cover her arms. She is freezing cold, but she doesn't care as long as she can find her daughter.

Thirty minutes later, Muffy or Trei still has not found Myo. As Trei continues the search, Muffy is slowing down from the cold coughing loudly. She knows that she needs to find a warm place to rest, but she is too worried about Myo to be concerned about herself.

After Trei checks Romana's villa, he stops to think for a moment. The valley is too large to do random searches, so he needs to think carefully about where Myo might have gone. As he thinks, he says, **"Where has Myo gone? I know that she likes to go off on her own, but where might she be? I'm always working, so Muffy should know Myo's habits more than I do. I should check back at the house, in case that she has found her."**

Trei then runs home to check if Muffy has found her. But when he gets in the house, he doesn't find either Muffy or Myo inside. It's been almost an hour since Trei and Muffy started looking for her, but Myo is still not found. Trei starts to become very worried about Myo. He takes a moment to think. As he looks around, he find several crayons lying on the floor. He then remembers that Myo was showing her a drawing she had made before she went missing. Also, Muffy mentioned earlier that Myo has been going to Cody's to learn about art. He snaps his fingers and yells, **"I bet she's at Cody's trailer!!"**

He runs out of the house again, and runs directly to Cody's trailer. The door was unlocked, so he let himself in. As soon as he walks in, he finds Myo inside painting on a canvas with Cody.

Trei takes a sigh of relief after Finding Myo. Cody looks at Trei and says, **"Hi there. You came to pick Myo up? I tell you, she's getting very good at painting and art."**

After explaining that he and Muffy has been looking for her for a while, he takes Myo and carries her home. On the way home, he tells her, **"Myo, why did you run off on your own? You have any idea how worried me and your mother has been?"**

**"I go pway with uncle Cody!"** said Myo.

Trei laughs at Myo and says, **"You know, you should tell somebody where you're going before you run off. And the weather is pretty bad today, you could have gotten hurt out here."**

**"I sowwie."** apologized Myo.

**"It's okay, as long as I found you."**

After returning home, Trei made something warm for Myo to drink. He then gives her back her art pad, and crayons, then says, **"I have to go look for your mother now. Why don't you stay in the kitchen and draw me a picture until I come back."**

**"OK!!"** cheered Myo.

Just then, he hears the sound of the front door open. **"That must me her right now."** said Trei. He walks out of the kitchen, and into the bedroom and says, **"Welcome home, I've-"** His mood changes when he saw her condition. Muffy walks in slowly breathing heavily. Her skin is pale, and has a slight blue coloring to it. She is leaning against the door struggling to stay standing. **"Muffy, are you okay?"**

Muffy looks up at Trei with a painful look on her face and asks, **"Did you find Myo? Is she okay?"**

**"She's in the kitchen drinking some warm milk. I found her at Cody's, she's just fine."** answered Trei.

Muffy straggles a smile and says, **"Thank god. . . I'm so glad that she's alright. . . Thank you so much for finding. . . Her."** She then collapses on the floor, and passes out immediately.

**"Muffy, what's wrong!"** yelled Trei as he runs to her aid. Her skin feels as cold as ice to the touch. Her breathing and heart rate has slowed down dramatically.

Trei carries her to the bed, and wraps her in a warm blanket. He adds more lumber to the fireplace to heat up the room. But no matter what he does, he condition doesn't get any better. Instead of sitting around and watch her, he takes Myo to the Blue bar, and leaves her there. He then runs over to the clinic, and practically drags Doctor Hardy back to his house.

Trei waits in the kitchen impatiently as Dr. Hardy examines her. Uncontrollable thoughts of the worst that might happen to Muffy plagues his mind. He is extremely worried, he has never been this worried about anyone before. He barely knows how to act in this time.

About an hour later, Dr. Hardy finally comes into the kitchen to deliver the news to Trei. He runs to him and demands, **"How is she!? Is she going to be okay!?"**

**"She is suffering from severe hypothermia, but she will be okay as long as she rests."** The news that Muffy will survive sends a rush of relief through his body. Trei falls to his knees and nearly cries. Dr. Hardy then rests his medical bag on the table and says, **"Care to explain what happened?"**

Trei stands up again and explains, **"Our daughter Myo went missing, so we went out to go find her. She was in such a rush to leave and find her, that she didn't dress warmly. I found Myo, and brought her home. Muffy came home not to long after that, and just collapsed."**

**"Did you try and stop her?"** asked Dr. Hardy.

**"I asked her to stay home and wait for her, but she wouldn't listen to me."**

**"How long has she been outside in this bad weather?"** Dr Hardy continues to ask.

**"I don't know. . . About an hour and a half?"**

Doctor hardy shakes his head in disbelief before saying, **"My god, I'm surprised that she is alive right now."**

**"What do you mean?"** asked Trei curiously.

**"You know that your wife cannot handle the cold very well. She has poor circulation, and she suffers from hypothermia very easily, especially since she is not a very big fan of dressing warmly. I'm sure that if she was outside only a few seconds longer, she could have died tonight."**

The news shocks him. He has been living with her for less than a year, and he thought that he already knew everything about her. But now he realizes that he may not even know much about her at all. He is usually in the barns or the field all the time working, and spends little time with his wife or child. **"Now that I think about it, Muffy has not been leaving the house since Winter started. She has been skipping her cooking classes, and never visits anyone. How could I have ignored the signs? If only I have known that this might happen, I would have forced her to stay home. Muffy doesn't think straight half the time, and she doesn't have much common sense, especially when she's upset."**

Dr. Hardy grabs his bag and begins to leave. But before he does, he tells Trei, **"You need to be more responsible to your family. I understand that she only ran off to find her daughter, but it's you that needs to protect not only Myo, but your wife as well."** He then leaves and returns to the clinic.

Later that night, Trei sits next to Muffy on the bed waiting for her to get better. Myo is sleeping over at Griffins which gives them a chance to be alone. He holds her hand, it's still cold, but warmer than it was a few hours ago.

He places her hand on his forehead and says, **"Why did you run off like that. You're such an idiot, leaving the house without a coat or at least something warmer. You're no different than Myo, you know that! I guess she got that habit of running off from you!"**

Suddenly, Muffy starts to wake up. She looks to the left, and finds Trei looking at her nearly crying. She smiles and says, **"Hi there. . . Is everything okay?"**

**"No, everything is not okay!"** scolded Trei. **"Do you have any idea what I've been through? I almost lost you! What were you thinking going out there in the snow dressed the way you are!"** Just then, Trei remembers what Hardy told him a while ago. He then holds Muffy's hand tightly and says, **"I guess it's my fault too. I've been working too much, and I didn't notice that this might happen. I'm sorry, please forgive me."**

**"It's not your fault."** answered Muffy. **"I know that I should have stayed home, but I was too worried about Myo. Please understand that Myo is important to me. I would do anything to make sure she's safe. Even if it means risking my own life. After all, I would do the same for you. Wouldn't you?"**

Those words touched Trei in a way that nothing has ever done before. Warm tears touched Muffy's hands as he kisses it saying, **"Yes I would. I was so scared that I would lose you. Please promise that you won't do that ever again."**

Muffy nods. She then suddenly cringes in pain. **"What's wrong!?"** Trei yelled concerned for her health.

**"I still feel very cold. I'll be fine, I just need to rest for a while."** answered Muffy.

But even though she says that she'll be okay, he doesn't feel that she'll be fine. He stands up and tells her, **"Muffy, please look away."**

She has no idea why he is saying that, but she turns to her side anyway. Trei then begins to undress himself while she is not looking. He then climbs into the bed, and pulls her close to his body. The sudden rush of warmth shocks Muffy.

**"What are you-"**

**"Please don't look at me!"** yelled Trei. He has never done this before, so he is feeling a bit embarrassed. **"I am sharing my body heat with you. It's the only thing I can do to help you recover quickly."**

Muffy then relaxes her body and says, **"You're so warm and comforting. I can feel your heart beating against my back. But why are you so nervous? It's not like we haven't done this before."**

**"I'm sorry."** answered Trei. **"I know I shouldn't be, but I am. I've never felt this way before. I know that must have sound strange, but I . . ."** Trei takes a deep breath and confesses, **"Muffy, I love you."**

The sound of Muffy sobbing and weeping begins to fill the room. Trei looks at her and says, **"Muffy, why are you crying? Did I say something to upset you?"**

**"No, but I feel really happy to hear you say that you love me. I haven't heard you say that for such a long time, I thought that you didn't love me anymore."** She the quickly turns around and kisses him on the lips for a while. She then says, **"Trei, I love you so much."**

Trei then continues to kiss Muffy. He feels that he is ready to take his feelings to the next step, and begins to undress her. He is confident about how he feels, and he wants to spend his life with her. As nature takes it's course, he swears to himself that he will do everything he can to protect his family from that moment on.

_Winter 13, 2005 (Saturday)_

The bad weather has passed, and the villagers are free to move around in the snow. Myo returnes home with Muffy and Trei with new found feelings between them. As a way to celebrate the passing of bad weather without any casualties, the valley decide to have a little festival.

In Forget-Me-Not Valley, they have few festivals, but many of them include Gustafa the bard playing a tune on his lute like a mini concert. So everyone heads over to the yurt and sit in a circle around Gustafa to listen to him play. Trei also attends sitting next to Muffy on one side, and Myo on the other like a family.

Unlike before, Muffy is wearing her usual red dress, but now she has a large shawl Trei brought for her earlier that day keeping her warm. As Guatafa plays the lute, Muffy sneezed once which causes Trei to panic.

**"Are you okay Muffy!?"** asked Trei. **"Are you cold? Should I get you something warm to drink? Should we go home?"**

Muffy laughs at Trei being overprotective of her. **"Sweetheart, I am just fine. It's still cold outside, but this shawl you brought me feels so warm. Thank you so much."**

Trei puts his arm around her, and pulls her closer. **"Sorry, but I do get worried about one of the most important people in my life."** Muffy smiles enjoying the warm embrace of her husband.

After the song ends, Gustafa stands up and says, **"Okay, this is for the couples in the valley. Stand up and dance if you like!"** He then sits back down, and plays a more upbeat tune on his lute. Muffy knows that Trei doesn't like to dance, so she never bothers to ask.

But Trei stands up, and asks, **"Muffy, have we ever danced together?"**

She shakes her head and says, **"No, we haven't."**

Trei then stretches his hand to Muffy and says, **"May I have this dance then?"**

Muffy gasps cheerfully, and takes his hand without hesitation. He helps her up, and gets into position for the waltz. They then begins to dance off beat which catches the attention of the other villagers. Rather than laughing, everyone smiles, claps, and cheers for them. Sometime in the middle of the song, Trei picks up Muffy, and twirls her in the air making her laugh out loud. Trei can't help but to laugh with her.

Trei puts her back down, and they both continue to laugh. He then places his hand on her warm rosy cheeks, and moves close to kiss her. Everyone awes, and claps seeing that their relationship is stronger now then ever.

As he kisses her, he says in his head, **"I love her. I finally understand why I decided to stay here in Forget-Me-Not Valley. It's not because of my dad, and it's not because I like this kind of work. I'm here because I love her. And for as long as I live, I will always be here for her."**

**To be continued.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**The Alternate Life**

_Winter 15, 2005 (Monday)_

Myo turns 4 years old today. Trei and Muffy have a small birthday party between the three of them, but Myo enjoys it very much. After the candles are blown and the cake is eaten, Muffy takes her daughter to the wall where several notches can be found. This is where she can measure how tall is Myo getting each year. She squeals with happiness as she sees that Myo has grown so much since her last birthday.

_Spring 1, 2006 (Tuesday)_

Early in the day, Muffy walks out of the house carrying Myo in her arms. Just like the year before, she is wearing a black dress. Trei still has no clue why she wears that dress on new years, especially since her black dress is usually reserved for funerals. But he doesn't complain much, he feels that it only makes marriage more fun this way.

**"Come on sweetheart! We're going to be late!"** cried Muffy trying to hurry her husband who has overslept.

**"I'm coming!"** yelled Trei running out trying to put his jacket on. He then joins his family, and Muffy fixes his tie like usual. He smiles at Myo who is now wearing a new dress. Since she has outgrown the one she wore last year, Trei and Muffy had to go to the city to buy some new clothing for her earlier. She is still dressed like a porcelain doll, but her dress now matches Muffy's a lot more.

They all walk together towards the villa to celebrate New Years Day just like they did last year. But at least this year, Trei has a good idea on what's going on. He doesn't feel lost or scared anymore, he is now walking full of confidence. He takes a look at his wife, and stares at her beautiful face for a while. Muffy looks back, but only smiles back at him.

They arrive at the villa just in time for the party to begin. Sebastian welcomes Trei's family warmly, and allows them to enter the mansion where they are greeted by the warm faces of the villagers of Forget-Me-Not Valley. Unlike last year, Trei is now talking to all his friends about the events of the year that has passed. It was a hard long year for him. But together with his wife and daughter, he was able to overcome any obstacles.

Muffy once again leaves Myo in Trei's care. But this time, he happily accepts her in his arms. He takes the chance to brag about how great is Myo becoming in art, athletics, and farming. Celia who has yet to have a child of her own becomes a little jealous, but she only hopes that she can get married soon. Even though she lives with Marlin, they never got married.

After a while, the crowd moves to the stairway to the second floor. Trei remembers that this is when the young lady of the villa makes her appearance to greet the guests of the villa. Everyone looks up to find Lumina standing up on the top of the stairs.

This time, she is wearing another new dress shaded with pink and white to honor the Spring season. She is also wearing light pink heels which is a new look for her, and a matching pink hair band. On the bottom of the stairs, Rock stands awaiting for her descent. When she arrives at the bottom of the steps, Rock takes her hand and kisses it gently like a noble prince.

Everyone is shocked at the new changes. First of all, Rock is not wearing his usual old fashioned clothing. He is now wearing a white tuxedo complete with a white jacket and white shoes. The kissing scene is also new to everyone, and they start whispering if maybe Rock and Lumina are in some sort of serious relationship.

After the whispering has silenced, Lumina takes a deep breath and says, **"Hello everyone. And Happy New Year. Once again, welcome to Romana's Villa."** Rock and Lumina look at one another, and smile. They then face the crowd and says, **"I have a very important announcement to make."** Lumina lifts her right hand revealing a beautiful pink diamond ring that Rock has spent a fortune on. Seeing the ring gave everyone the real reason why Lumina's dress is pink. **"Rock and I are engaged!"**

The village cheers and whistles loudly, and congratulates then on their engagement. Romana walks out with her usual walking problems, and all the guests silences for a moment to hear her speak. **"Hello everyone, I'm sure you all know that I am Romana, your host. As you just heard, my niece is now engaged. Lumina is getting married on the 29th of this month, I hope everyone will attend the ceremony."** Then everyone claps cheerfully honoring their engagement. Lumina and rocks smiles at one another holding hands hoping that they can be as happy as their friends Trei and Muffy.

Trei steps forward, and announces, **"I think this calls for a special celebration!"** He then pulls out a record that he had bought from Van earlier. He walks over to the record player, and plays the record for the whole village to hear. Everyone prepares for a great song, but they all sweat nervously as they listen to the record. The record plays a childish song from the _"Puff the Magic Dragon"_ soundtrack.

Everyone wonders why he has chosen that song to celebrate an engagement. But Trei decides to liven the mood and say, **"Hey, come on everyone! This was always my favorite song when I was a kid. Let's stop being adults for a moment, and sing along!"** He begins to sing, but everyone just stands there watching him act like a goof. Muffy isn't upset, but rather, she walks up to him, and sings along. Lumina thought she would help out, so she plays the song on the piano to liven the mood. Rock stands next to his fiance, and sing as well.

One by one, the villagers start to sing as well. Everyone who was an adult knew the song by heart, but they were afraid of being embarrassed to show off their childish side. But now that everyone is singing together, they just sing and laugh off key cheerfully. After the song is over, everyone looks at one another, and laugh out loud. They were all acting goofy, but they had a lot of fun. Trei had an idea that Rock was not going to play the comedian this year, so he volunteered instead.

As the villagers continue to laugh, they hear a knock on a window. Everyone silences, and looks over to see who it is. But they see nothing outside the window. **"How strange. I could have sworn that someone was knocking on that window."** said Muffy interrupting the sudden silence.

**"Maybe it was a raccoon, or just the wind."** commented Rock.

The only person who can actually see anything is Trei. He stands there in shock as he sees Flik outside the window waving at him. Flik makes a gesture implying that he wants to speak to Trei outside. Trei then starts to walk out the front door, but Muffy stops him. **"Trei, where are you going? The party is not over yet!"**

**"I know, but I just remembered that I forgot something important. Just wait here, I'll be right back."** He then leaves Myo in Muffy's arms, and runs out the door leaving everyone speechless.

**"Well, there he goes again. Another new year, and my husband acts weird."** Everyone nods in agreement.

**"I wonder what's bothering him this year? Maybe something he drank last night?"** asked Rock.

Everyone leers at Griffin. He sweats nervously and asks, **"Why is everyone looking at me?"**

**"Griffin, did you change the recipe of the new years sake again?"** asked Muffy.

Griffin waves his hand and says, **"No, I swear I didn't! I have nothing to do with Trei's behavior!"**

Everyone looks at one another, and just sigh. Outside the mansion, Trei meets up with Flik. He squats down and says, **"Hi there! I haven't seen you in almost a year!"**

Flik smiles and says, **"Hi there Trei. I see that you're doing well. So, how are things between you and Muffy?"**

Trei stands up and says, **"Everything is great! I was wrong about her, she's a great wife! She may not be the best cook, and she may not be the smartest person on earth. But she's a wonderful person! She and I may not be very alike at all, but that only means that she completes me. And my daughter is an amazing kid, she's good at farming, athletics, and art! I think she'll grow up to be a very talented farmer. I finally realize why I am here, it's because I love Muffy!"**

Trei continues to yell and dance around cheerfully, but he suddenly feels concerned when he sees Flik's sad face. He squats down, and asks, **"Flik, what's wrong?"**

Flik looks up at him and says, **"Trei, it's time to go back."**

Trei look at him awkwardly and asks, **"What do you mean by that?"**

**"Your wish is now complete. You know what life is like living in your father's ranch. And now it's time to return to the present. And-"** before Flik finishes his explanation, he grabs him again, and starts shaking him around.

As he tightens his grip, he yells, **"Now listen here you little midget! Do you have any idea what I've been through this entire year!? And now you're telling me it's all going to just go away!? Cause listen up, I don't want to go back! Not after what I've been through! I'm staying right here with Muffy!"**

**"I'm sorry Trei!"** struggled Flik. **"But this is not something I can control. It was you who brought yourself here, and I cannot do anything to help you stay. Besides, you need to go back, or else-"**

Trei suddenly releases Flik from his grasp. He starts to tremble as he realizes what Flik has been trying to tell him. **"Oh my god you're right. I do have to go back! Because now that I think about it, I skipped 5 years. So therefore, none of this actually happened yet!"** Trei looks down sadly and continues, **"What am I going to do? What's going to happen to this world once I go back?"**

**"It's going to disappear."** answered Flik. **"This world only exists to show you what will happen in the future. Now that you have to go back, everything that happened will just going to vanish."**

Tears starts to fall on the dirt that he is kneeling on. Trei is sad that everything that he has done within the last year will just have been wasted effort. He will no longer be married, and his daughter will not be born. **"I. . . I don't want to start all over. It was so hard and painful going through all this once. I just want to continue living this life as it is. I don't want to go back, isn't there anything that I can do to?"**

**"You know Trei, you don't have to do this all over again."** reminded Flik.

**"What do you mean?"**

**"Remember that you had two options. You can live in Forget-Me-Not Valley, or you can stay in the city. If you don't want to start over, you don't have to."**

Trei then remembers that he did have a choice. He only got to see the life that he lived as a rancher, but not the other life he could have lived. Curious to know what does the other life has in store for him, he asks Flik, **"Hey, is there a way that I could see what will happen if I didn't take over my father's ranch?"**

Flik looks up at Trei and says, **"You should know that if you want to see that, all you need to do is close your eyes, and wish it."**

Trei is skeptical, but he gives it a try anyway. He stands up, and shuts his eyes tightly. He then starts wishing quietly that he was in the future without his father's ranch. He doesn't feel anything change, so he feels that it didn't work. But when he opens his eyes, he finds a great big surprise waiting for him.

As soon as he opens his eyes, he finds himself in a huge office. All the walls are decorated with gray wallpaper, and expensive art. The floors are lined with expensive carpeting. He is wearing a gray business suit, his arms and legs are thinner, and his hair is groomed neatly. He runs to a nearby wall mirror, and sees that he has not changed much since he was 21 years old. He finds an enormous desk, and a name plate with his name engraved in it. Below his name, the writing says _"CEO"_ on it. He looks out the enormous window in the back, and sees that he is in the city inside a tall building. Looking at how high he is, he has to be in the 100th floor.

Flik appears in the room shortly, and finds Trei looking through his office happily. **"Hi there Trei. How is everything here?"**

He looks down at Flik and says, **"Wow, this life is great! I am the CEO of this great company! I must have moved up so quickly in this job, and I have that well paying job that I always dreamed about! Forget-Me-Not Valley was a great life, but I don't see anything wrong with this life either!"**

Flick felt happy for him for a moment, but then he notices something that Trei does not. **"Trei, look at your hands."**

**"My hands? What could be wrong with my hands?"** He then takes a look at his hands, and finally notices what Flik is trying to show him. Something important is missing. **"My wedding ring is gone? Where is my wedding ring? Did I lose it?"**

**"Trei, calm down."** said Flik. **"Remember, in this life you never met Muffy."**

The news shocks him. He runs over to his desk, and takes a look at the pictures that lie there. He finds some of himself, or his mother. But he never finds any photographs that implies that he has ever gotten married. He tilts his head down after remembering whet he said to Muffy that Summer evening. Trei never wanted to get married, but all that changed once he met Muffy. If he never had met Muffy, he would have never known what it was like to fall in love.

He puts down the photograph he had in his hand and says, **"I get it now. In this life, I live alone. In Forget-Me-Not, I have a family. My two choices are forcing me to choose between a life of riches and luxury, or a life of family."** He then has an idea. **"But it's not too late to get married! I am still young, and I'm sure Muffy is still single in Forget-Me-Not Valley!"** He picks up the phone and says, **"I'll just call the Blue Bar and. . ."** Just then, he realizes that there are no phone lines in Forget-Me-Not Valley. The closest phone is all the way in Mineral Town. And without an owner to the farm, there is no longer any way to communicate with Takakura.

He hangs up the phone and says, **"I know! I'll just go to Forget-Me-Not Valley! I'll just meet Muffy right now and. . ."** Just then, he realizes that he has another problem. Because he skipped so many years, he never figured out the way how to get to Forget-Me-Not Valley. Takakura told him how to get to Forget-me-Not valley 6 years ago. Now that there is no way to get in contact with him. So he cannot go to that small village. Since it's so small compared to other villages and towns, the valley is not even in the maps.

He tilts his head down and says, **"Flik, do you know what happens to Muffy in this life? Please, I need to know."**

**"I don't know."** answered Flik. **"This is a future that you yourself created. I don't know what happens here other than what I can see."**

**"I see."** Then Trei has another idea. He turns around to Flik and says, **"What if I just go back to the past. . . Then go to Forget-Me-Not Valley. . . Get married with Muffy. . . And come back home to live this life? Takakura said that I can just leave if that life is not for me! So I can just do that, right?"**

A shocked look on Flik's face can be seen. However, he is not looking at Trei. Something is behind him that is causing Flik to look that way. Trei becomes curious, and turns around to see what is terrifying Flik. Trei gasps in shock as he sees himself in his desk filling out paperwork. He stands up and walks to this _"Other Trei"._ He tries to wave his hand in front of him, but he does not notice Trei's hands in front of his face. He tries to tap his shoulder, but his hand passes through the other Trei's body like a ghost.

**"Oh my god, what is this?"** asked Trei.

Flik climbs the desk, and jumps around trying to get the other Trei's attention. But no matter how long Flik jumps and waves, he cannot be seen either. **"I can't believe it. I've only heard rumors about this, but I never thought it was true."** answered Flik. **"It's _'Spiritual Vision'_!"**

**"Spiritual Vision? What is that?"**

Flik points at Trei and says, **"When you made up your choices so many years ago, you only had two of them. One choice was to go to live in your father's ranch. And the other was to stay home, and get a good job."** He then looks at the other Trei and continues to explain, **"Normally people would just pick one life, and live with that. But now after you've seen both versions of the future, you've made yourself a third choice. A choice based on combining the best of both worlds. But unlike before, you cannot experience this life. Rather, you can only watch it in the form of a spirit. We can only watch whats going on, and we cannot interfere. Like watching a movie or a play!"**

Trei takes another look at the other Trei, and sees that he is wearing a wedding ring. **"Look, I'm married in this life! And that's the same wedding ring that I used to have when I was married with Muffy! That means I'm married to Muffy like I wanted, and still living in the city!"**

Just then, someone comes bursting in the office. At first, Trei does not recognize this blond woman. She had a black business suit, short hair, and a mean unhappy looking face. But after looking into her green eyes, he realizes that it's Muffy. But a lot has changed about her. She's still pretty, but nothing as attractive as she used to be with long hair, a hair band, and her dresses. The face she has looks like she has been unhappy for a long time.

She passes by Trei, and walks over to the other Trei's desk. He did not notice her burst in, he is too preoccupied with his work. As soon as Muffy arrives at the desk, she slams her fist on the table finally gaining his attention. The other Trei looks up at her, but his expression doesn't change. It's almost like occurrences like this is very normal.

**"Trei, what is the meaning of this!"** Muffy started yelling. Trei has heard Muffy yelling in Forget-Me-Not Valley many times before, but this tone was much different. There is lots of malice and unhappiness in her voice now. **"Why did you tell your secretary not to let me in your office!"**

The other Trei puts his paperwork down and says casually, **"My apologies. I am very busy and I cannot be disturbed. I have a lot of work to do."**

**"Don't give me that! You've been away to Japan for the last 6 weeks, and you never came home! You just went straight back to your little office, and you never even called me!"**

The other Trei takes a deep sigh, and starts to put away his paperwork. He then folded his hands and says, **"Okay, fine. I'm listening, what is the problem?"**

**"What is the problem?"** snapped Muffy. **"Trei, the last couple of years, you've barely been home. All you do is work, work, work. You don't even come home at night, you actually sleep in your office! It's been almost two months since I last seen your face, and I feel that you may not care about me anymore."**

The other Trei takes a deep breath and says, **"Is that all? Please understand Muffy that I am not a rancher anymore. I do not work at home, and I need to be away a lot of times. I just can't see why you are unhappy. You have everything that you have ever wanted. Money, power, as much gold, silver, platinum, and gems as you want. You have your own athletic club, and you're the most famous woman in this city. What else could you possibly want?"**

Muffy tries her best to hold back the tears as she says, **"What about a loving husband? Someone who would be there for me when I need him? Love, kisses, or even a sign that you actually think about me when you're in this office. How about a family? We've been married for five years already, and we don't even have any kids yet!"**

Trei gasps at the news. He looks at the other Trei, and sees that he shows no care or concern for what Muffy is telling him. But what bother him the most is that Myo was never born, and it looks like he has no interest in a child either. Trei feels angry, and sad at the same time. He has only been listening for a few minutes, and he is already losing his mind.

The other Trei starts to feel annoyed by Muffy's constant ranting, so he says, **"Okay fine. If you want to spend some time with me, how about we go on a cruise together. You would like that right?"**

Muffy then smiles for a second and yells, **"Really!? I would love that very much!"**

He pulls out his planner, and starts flipping the pages to look for a time that he's free. After a few minutes, he asks, **"Let's see, when is our wedding anniversary again?"**

Muffy frowns once again and crosses her arms while saying, **"Today. . . Remember?"**

**"Oh yes. Remind me to ask my secretary to send you a gift later."** He then flips a few more pages and says, **"Spring is still a bit too cold for a cruise. . . Your birthday is sometime in Summer right?"**

Muffy's eye twitched as she says, **"Summer fifth."**

**"Okay, I got it. I'll have reservations for a week long cruise ready for Summer 5, 2010."**

**"2010?! That's more than 4 years from now!"** yelled Muffy.

The other Trei puts away his planner and says, **"I'm sorry, but I'm booked until then."**

Muffy stamps her feet on the carpet and yells, **"Trei, this is not fair! When you proposed to me, you promised me that you would love me forever! This is not love, I am not something that you can own like a trophy or something!"**

**"And I suppose that you were happier living in that valley shacking up with that old man in the bar."** he said carelessly.

Muffy points at Trei and screams, **"Don't you dare talk about Griffin that way! He was like family to me!"** She slams both her hands on his desk and demands, **"I can't live like this anymore! I want a divorce!!"**

The other Trei huffs and says, **"Fine. If that'll make you happy, talk to my secretary. She'll take care of all the paperwork."**

Muffy's face turned blood red. She turns around and walks out of the office nearly stomping on the floor. Just before she walks out the door, she looks back and says, **"I regret the day I married you!"** then she slams the door behind her leaving him forever.

Trei trembles as he watches Muffy leave. He then turns around to look at the other Trei. He continues to work like if nothing had happened. Trei couldn't contain his anger anymore, so he ran up to his other self, and starts to swing his fist at him wildly. He forgets that his fists go right through him, or that he cannot feel any pain. Seeing that his anger cannot get through to him, he only feels worse.

**"What is wrong with you!!"** yelled Trei to the other Trei. Tears fall freely as he continue to swing his fists at him. **"Why did you just let her leave! She was your wife damn you! She's supposed to be the most important person in your life! And what about Myo!? Did you forget about your own daughter!"** He collapses on the ground after wearing himself out. After a few minutes, he asks Flik, **"Is this what I'm going to turn into? Am I going to become like this heartless monster?"**

Flik says, **"Trei, I told you earlier back in Spring. Everything changes in the future. Having a family made you into a better person. But money and power changes you as well. I'm afraid that you cannot have everything you want. Trying will only make things worse."**

Trei closes his eyes tightly and says, **"No more. Please, I don't want to see anymore. I don't want this life. I want Muffy, I want my family back."** He stands up without opening his eyes and yells, **"I WANT TO GO TO FORGET-ME-NOT VALLEY!!"**

He can year those words echo in the distance. He slowly opens his eyes and sees that he is no longer in his office. Instead of tall buildings, he can see trees instead. The only walls that he can see are the walls outside of Romana's Villa. As his eyes are closed, he was able to return to the valley one last time.

He notices Flik standing close to him. He kneels down and asks, **"Flik tell me! How long do I have left before I go back to the present?"**

Flik take a moment to think, and then says, **"Midnight tonight. I'm sorry, but I cannot change that."**

**"Flik, can I ask you one last thing?"** Flik nods, and Trei asks, **"My father. Did he travel to the future too? When he was younger I mean."**

Flik nods and says, **"Yes he did. I knew your father well. When your father was a teenager, he always wanted to own a farm or ranch. But in this day in age, very few pieces of land were available to fulfill his dream. So he got married and had a child instead. But when you were so young, a plot of land became available. He wanted to live in the country with his family, but your mother did not want to go. But since your father wanted to live in the country that much, your mother allowed him to live there. He wanted to stay with you, but he wanted to know what it would be like to own a ranch.**

**That is when I met him. I told him that he would take a trip into the future, and he didn't believe me. But then he traveled to after he had completed his ranch. He spent 10 days in the future, and then he went back. He went back too soon, and he had no idea how unhappy you became during those 10 days. I'm sure that if he knew, he wouldn't have gone to Forget-Me-Not Valley."**

**"I see."** said Trei.

Flik nods and concludes, **"So, I guess this is goodbye then. This will be the last time we'll meet."**

Trei understands that after this experience, he will no longer need to go traveling to the future. So he and Flik shakes hands, and decides to becomes friends. Flik then vanishes across time where he can go assist someone else who may become lost in time. And Trei goes back into the villa to rejoin the rest of the village, and enjoy the rest of the party.

**To be continued.**


	12. FINAL Chapter

**FINAL Chapter**

**A Wonderful Future**

_Spring 1, 2006 (Tuesday)_

The party ends at 6:00pm in Romana's Villa. One by one, everyone says their goodbyes and returns home. Trei spent the most time saying goodbye to all his friends. He has told no one, but it will be the last time he will see them before returning to the past. Everyone did feel that he was acting unusual during the end of the party, but nobody wanted to ask about it.

Trei and Muffy are now returning home with Myo. As they walk, Muffy notices Trei acting somewhat more unusual than normal. Every few moments, he would check his watch and sigh in relief. He also has a worried look in his eye, like if something is on his mind. This also worries Muffy. Last year, he was acting especially strange to her. This year is a bit more normal, but still unusual for Muffy.

Muffy sighs and asks him, **"Trei, is there something wrong?"**

Trei looks back with a surprised look and says, **"Nothing! Nothing at all is wrong."**

**"You've been looking at your watch a lot. Is something going to happen soon? Another surprise for our anniversary?"**

Trei completely forget about the anniversary. He has been so preoccupied with so many things, that he completely forgot. The fact that he has to leave in only a few hours left doesn't help either. Instead of doing nothing, he feels that he should do at least one last thing with her before he leaves.

He runs in front of Muffy stopping her from walking. **"Muffy, let's go on a date!"** he yelled.

**"A date?"** asked Muffy.** "But it's already late, and Myo needs to be tucked in soon. Maybe we should-"**

**"Please?"** begged Trei.

Muffy looks up at Trei's sad and desperate face. Looking like that, there is no way that she could turn him down. So she sighs and says, **"What about Myo?"**

**"Let's ask Griffin to take care of her for tonight."** answered Trei.** "It's our anniversary tonight, and it's very important that we spend as much time alone."**

Muffy takes a moment to decide. She feels that he is acting suspicious, asking her to go on a date so late in the day. But she quickly gives in. She smiles and says, **"Okay, let's go on a date."**

After dropping Myo off at the Blue Bar, they left Forget-Me-Not Valley to Mineral Town. In town, there is a nice bonfire where they watch the young couples dance together. The inn is also open, so they have a few drinks, and a good meal to eat. As they eat, Muffy talks about the many things that happened within the past year. Like how much smarter Myo is getting, how good the ranch has been doing, and how good friends they are becoming with Grant's family.

Trei just sits there and listens to Muffy talking. He is afraid to say much because he doesn't want to slip his tongue, and tell her something that may scare her. So he just smiles and nods every now and then. After dinner, the new years festival is over and they return to Forget-Me-Not Valley. Muffy wanted to call it a night, but Trei wants to walk around the valley for a while before heading home. Muffy wanted to protest, but Trei gave that look again. So she sighs and agrees to take the walk.

They spent about an hour walking around randomly around the valley. Their final stop is at the bridge. They take a good long look at the ocean view from there. Trei holds her hand tightly, as if he doesn't want to let it go, ever. This only makes Muffy worry, she knows that he can be romantic at times, but he has ever acted like this before.

"**Trei sweetheart."** called Muffy gaining Trei's attention. **"Is everything okay? Is there something that you cannot tell me?"**

Trei takes a moment to think. He wants to tell her the truth, tell her everything that will happen in less than 2 hours. But he wonders if she will believe him. And how will she react if he does tell her? After a moment, he feels that if he says anything, he will only cause her to panic or get angry. He wants her to enjoy herself, especially since after he leaves, she will no longer exist as she is. She will be a single woman working in a bar only hoping of meeting the perfect man someday.

**"Nothing is wrong."** answered Trei. **"I just wanted to spend some time with you, that's all."**

Muffy looks away sadly, and then continues, **"I'm getting this strange feeling. . . Like if you are trying to say goodbye to me. I have this strange feeling that you might go far far away. Somewhere that I cannot find you."**

A tear drops from Trei's eye, hearing her say those words leave him feeling very emotional. Now more than ever, he doesn't want to leave. He then then quickly moves behind her, and embraces her tightly. She gasps in a very surprised tone. In the several years that they have been married, Trei has never embraced her that way. Muffy begins to tremble, she is almost prepared to hear some sudden bad news. But at the same time, she enjoys his powerful warm embrace.

**"I would never want to leave you." **whispered Trei in her ear.** "If I ever do, it will only be for a brief moment, you'll never even notice I was gone. After all, you and Myo are the most important people to me. I will never leave my family behind."**

**"Do you promise me that?"** asked Muffy suddenly.

**"With all my heart."** Trei continues to hold her for a moment, then asks, **"Hey, let me ask you something. If we ever had to start over again. . . If we both were single once again. . . Would you become my wife all over again?"**

**"That's a strange question to ask."** said Muffy. Trei then tightens his grip on her. She then feels several teardrops fall on her shoulder. Seeing how emotional he's becoming, she decides to humor him. **"Yes, even if we were to start over a million times, I would become your wife each and every time."**

They share a kiss before leaving the bridge to pick up Myo from Griffin's house. They all return home, and everyone prepares for bed. Muffy tucks Myo in, and she climbs into bed wearing her usual night gown and hair curlers. She sits in bed and watches Trei walk around the house in a panic. He stares at the time, it is now 11:00pm, only an hour left until he has to go back, and the world he has been living in for a whole year will cease to exist.

**"Trei, are you sure that everything is okay?"** asked Muffy. She can't help but to worry with Trei acting the way he is.

Trei rushes into bed and says, **"Nothing! I just don't want this night to end, that's all."**

**"Well, let's go to sleep. You have a lot of work to do tomorrow."** said Muffy. She then notices Trei staring at her, so she says,** "What? Is there something on my face."**

**"I love you."** he said out of the blue.

Muffy smiles and responds, **"I love you too."** They then shared a final kiss before Muffy rests her head on the pillow, and quickly drifts on to sleep. Trei pretends to sleep, but he remains awake staring at the clock watching the minutes go by. He can only wish that time would stop, but he knows that he has no such ability. All he can do is watch, and try to stay awake as long as possible.

At 11:30pm, Trei begins to have trouble staying awake. He remembers feeling this way when he was at home before he came to Forget-Me-Not Valley. He climbs out of bed, and begins to walk around once again. No matter what he does, he only feels more and more sleepy as each minute passes. He wants to cheat fate so badly, but he doesn't have the strength to fight back. In a desperate attempt to stay awake, he grabs his jacket, and begins to walk out of the ranch.

He only reaches the bridge at 11:59pm. There, he falls on his knees, and his eyes are almost impossible to keep open. He wants to stay there with his family, but nothing that he does is working. All he is able to do is lift his head up high and yell to the top of her lungs yelling, **"WHY! WHY CAN'T I STAY!?"**

Then at 12:00am, he collapses and falls asleep right on the bridge. His only regret that he has is that he should have remained at home with his family. But he wanted to fight back, and embrace the hope that he could remain with Muffy and Myo in Forget-Me-Not Valley forever without starting over. But there are some things that anyone cannot overcome. Slowly, the world that Trei once knew fades away. His body becomes younger by the second, and everything that has happened between the six years he was away from the past starts to reset itself.

_Spring 1, 2000_

Trei wakes up in his bedroom in the city where he was born. He puts his hand on his head as if he has a headache. He feels a bit dizzy, and his memory is fuzzy, but he is fine. He then looks in the mirror in the other side of the room and says, **"Wow, what just happened? I feel like if I was in a very long dream. . ."** Even though he looks no different than he was yesterday, he feels that something has changed. He feels light as a feather, his hair feels smooth to the touch, and he was expecting himself to be older.

Rather than worry about it too much, he starts to get ready for the day. He dresses himself in his usual clothes, but he begins to feel a bit odd. A dressy shirt, and khakis are his usual garments. But he has a strange feeling that he should be wearing a tough shirt and carpenter's pants used for working. But as he ties his shoes, he notices something that begins to recall all the memories.

As soon as he notices that his wedding ring is gone, he begins to remember all the faces he once knew in Forget-Me-Not Valley. Lumina, Cody, Grant, Saibara, Gray, Rock, and especially the faces of his daughter and his wife. The thing he remembers the most if the promise that he made the night before he returned.

As his memory clears, he says, **"Muffy. . . Myo!"** Then he runs out of his bedroom calling out to his mother. Trei finds her in the kitchen making some breakfast like if nothing has happened. She turns around and says, **"Good grace son, what's the matter with you? You're so noisy so early in the morning."**

Ignoring what Sarah just told him, Trei asks, **"Mom, do you still have Takakura's number?"**

**"Yes I do."** said Sarah in a confused tone. **"But why do you need it so suddenly?"**

**"Because I want to take over dad's ranch!"** yelled Trei.

Hearing those words come out of Trei's lips shocks Sarah to the point where she dropped all the cooking utensils on the floor. She trembles as she says, **"What did you say?"**

**"Mom, I saw it last night. It was a small ranch, but I was happy there. I was with a beautiful bride, and a three year old daughter! We have a lot of friends, like Cody, Lumina, Grant and his family and-"**

**"Trei, what are you talking about?"** interrupted Sarah.

**"Mom, don't you understand? It's a wonderful future."**

Sara just remains standing thee looking at Trei in confusion. But she then sighs and tells him, **"I have no idea what you're trying to tell me. But if taking over your fathers ranch is what you want to do, I'll support you."**

**"It is."**

Sara then walks up to her son proudly, and kisses him on the cheek. She then says, **"I'll call Takakura, and tell him you're on your way. You should start packing, and get ready."**

**"Thanks mom!"** said Trei as he runs back to his room. He packs only the necessary things for living in the country. He knows that modern things such as DVD and CD players are pointless. Electricity and phone lines are limited, so he will need to pack wisely. After packing mostly clothing and toiletries, Sara hands him the directions needed to arrive at Mineral Town where he will meet up with Takakura. He says goodbye to her, and starts heading over to his future.

Later that day, Trei arrived at Forget-Me-Not Valley. The trip seemed longer than he thought it would be, he first arrived in Mineral town where he was picked up by Takakura. He then was escorted to the valley where he was taken to the empty ranch. At first, he felt odd because the ranch is not usually empty. He always remembered it to be full of animals while he was living there earlier.

After they arrived, Takakura says, **"So, here we are. Your father's ranch. It's not much to look at, but it's quite productive. There used to be a lot of animals here, but as soon as Pete got sick, we had to sell most of the animals. We do have a cow here in the ranch, I'll teach you how to care for her later."**

**"Wow, this ranch is just like how I remember it."** said Trei carelessly.

**"Excuse me?"** asked Takakura.

Trei realized that he said something unusual, so he laughs and says, **"I meant to say, like I always imagined it."**

Takakura raised an eyebrow and says, **"Your father said something like that when he first arrived in this land. But I guess that means that you are really his son."** He walks to the barn and continues, **"Well I hope you are not exactly like Pete, he used to tell me strange things like seeing invisible tiny men called Harvest Sprites. I wonder about that guy sometimes."**

Trei laughed awkwardly, and follows Takakura into the barn where he is introduced to the cow. Takakura spent a good 20 minutes lecturing on how to care for her. Trei doesn't really pay attention because he already knows how to care for animals. After the lecture, they leave the barn where Takakura shows Trei around the ranch.. Takakura then offers Trei a tour around the village. Since he is pretending to be new, he accepts the tour. He first visits the farm where Celia, Vesta, and Marlin live in. Everyone introduces themselves, and then they move on. They also visit the tent where Carter and Flora live, and the Inn where Ruby and her family live. Trei is pretty surprised that there is another girl living there that he has never met. But he has no interest in another girl, he already has his heart set on one particular woman.

The next stop is the Blue bar. As soon as he sees it, Trei starts to get butterflies in his stomach. He knows that Muffy, the woman that he loves is working in there. But now, she does not know him anymore. He is unsure how he will react after seeing her, but he cannot avoid it. So he raises his chin up, and follows Takakura to the bar.

Takakura knocks on the door, and Griffin comes out to greet them. **"Hi there Takakura!"** said Griffin. He then looks at Trei and says, **"Is this the new guy in Pete's ranch?"**

**"That's right. This is Trei, Pete's son. He'll be working in the ranch starting today."** answered Takakura.

**"I see. My name is Griffin, owner of the Blue bar. I hope you will come over, and relax in my bar."** Trei nods. Griffin then turns around and yells, **"Hey! Come out and introduce yourself to the new guy!"**

A moment later, a beautiful long haired blond woman walks out of the bar. Trei's heart starts to beat Rapidly after seeing her face. She was always beautiful before, but now Muffy is 6 years younger than he remembers her. At that moment, Trei fell in love with her all over again.

Muffy smiles at Trei and says, **"Hi there. Welcome to the Blue Bar. My name is-"**

**"Muffy right?"** interrupted Trei.

Everyone is shocked to hear that Trei knew her name before anyone even said anything. **"Yes, that is my name. How did you know?"** asked Muffy.

Trei winks at Muffy and says, **"Call it a lucky guess."**

Muffy giggles, and blushes a bit. Takakura then says, **"Trei, we need to go introduce you to the rest of the village. Let's go."**

**"Okay."** As he leaves the bar, he waves at Muffy and says, **"See you later Muffy!"**

**"Come by again!"** Muffy responded.

**"You bet I will."** flirted Trei.

As they parted ways, Griffin quickly notices that Muffy has taken an interest in Trei. He smiles at her, and hopes the best for her. After the tour, Trei is taken back to the ranch where his first day on the job can begin.

_Spring 2, 2000_

Trei digs up the box that his father buried just before he died. He is able to find it very easily because the dirt is still loose it was buried. After bringing the box inside the house, he opens it and begins to read the letters one by one that his father has written. Every letter left Trei speechless. Everything that he has wanted to hear from his father are written in the letters. He only feels sad that he has never received them earlier. Some of them left tears dropping from his chin.

After reading them all, he decides to pay a visit to his father's grave. It is located not too far outside of the village. Forget-Me-Not Valley is very new, and Pete's grave sits alone in the path between Mineral Town and the valley. Trei arrives around 5:00pm wearing his best suit. He missed the funeral, but that doesn't mean that he cannot pay his respect to him.

**"Hi dad."** said Trei patting the grave stone. He then takes a seat next to it, and continues to talk as if his father was sitting next to him. **"So, how are you doing today? I've been just fine. I graduated college with excellent scores. But I decided to take over the ranch after all. But please don't misunderstand, I didn't do it for you. You see, I went to the future. I know that you did too when I was just a kid. In my future, I had a family. A beautiful wife, and a perfect daughter.**

**Just before I came back, I promised that I would never leave them. And if I did, it would only be for a brief moment, she will not notice that I was gone. I plan to marry the same girl, and start my family again. I hope that you're happy dad, all your dreams are coming true. And it's all because of Muffy. You know her, she works at the bar. She is the girl I love, and the one I want to spend my life with."**

Trei stands up and says, **"Listen dad. I cannot forgive you for leaving me and mom behind. I cannot forgive you for not sending the letters. I wanted you to be there for me when I was younger. I understand that you have your dreams to chase, but you still had a family. And that's why I cannot forgive you. But. . . I don't hate you."**

Trei then lets out a smile for his father. For some reason he had a feeling that his father is smiling back at him. He then remembers that he had written a letter of his own earlier that day. He pulls it out of his chest pocket and says, **"Oh, I wrote you a reply to the letters you wrote me. I know it's a bit late, but I hope you'll accept it anyway."** He opens the letter, and lays it on the earth in front of the grave stone. He places a rock on it so the wind doesn't blow it away. He then says, **"Goodbye dad, I'll take good care of the ranch. I promise."**

Trei then walks back to the ranch, he cries a little as he leaves his father's grave. He feels emotional, but he cannot be sad. After all, he has a live to make happen again. But he is happy, he feels that he made the right choice. The letter that lays in front of Pete's grave is very short with only two words. But those two words came from deep within Trei's soul. The letter reads, _"Dear Dad. . . Thank you."_

**Spring 2, 2006 Midnight**

Six years has passed since Trei took over the farm. Since then, he married Muffy, Myo was born, Rock has gotten engaged to Lumina, Grant has moved into the Valley, and everything else that happened before. It almost seems like nothing has changed from this life to the life he was forced to leave behind. He has also learned so many new things about Muffy that he has ever learned while living in the future.

Trei wakes up in the middle of the night. He the looks at his beautiful wife, and kisses her in the cheek. He then whispers in her ear, **"Hi there. Do you remember what day this is? Of course you don't, this is the same exact night that I went back home six years ago. But just as I promised, you never even noticed that I was gone. This time, I am not going back. We'll always be together forever from now on."** He then smiles at her then continues, **"Well, sweet dreams my precious wife. Let's have a wonderful future together. Oh, I almost forgot! Let's have another baby. This time, I would like to have a son."**

He then places his head on the pillow where he will spend the rest of his life raising his family to the best of his ability.

**The end.**

_Credits_

This Fanfic is based off the Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life SE. Juxapose4ever or Harvestmoon4ever does not assume ownership of copywritten materials or names belonging to Marvelous Interactive or Natume.

This entire Fanfic was Written by Juxapose4ever for fans of Harvest Moon, or other people who just love to read. Thanks for reading.


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